B. Reading Comprehension

VI. Read Text A and translate it into Russian.

Text A. Business Letters

Every letter that leaves the office should be looked upon as a representative of the firm. Its appearence, therefore, must be in keeping with this function.

An English business letter generally consists of the following six parts:

1. the Heading with the Date

2. the Inside Address

3. Title

4. the Greeting

5. the Body of the Letter

6. the Complimentary Close

7. the Signature

The heading of a business letter is usually printed and indicates by whom, where and when a letter was written. Besides these three items, i.e. the name and address of the firm and the date of writing the letter, the heading usually contains the telephone number, the telex and fax.

The date, which is a part of the heading, may take any one of the following forms:

4th January (,) 1995

4 January (,) 1995

January 4th 1995

January 4, 1995

Such abbreviations as 4/1/1995 are not generally adopted since they lead to confusion. It is preferable not to abbreviate the names of months.

The inside address consists of the name and the address of the addressee and is written on the lefthand side of the page.

Title. When a letter is addressed to a woman, the title is «Mrs» if she is married and «Miss» if she is unmarried. The plural form in both cases is «Mmes» (= Medames).

Titles such as «Doctor», «Professor», «Colonel», «Sir» always precede the name of a person.

University degrees and honours gained in the armed forces are put after the name.

Examples: Mr. Henry A. Williams

Colonel James B. Adams

Professor (Prof) James B. Adams

Mr. J.B. Turner, M.A. (= Master of Arts)

Titles indicating positions, such as Treasurer, Secretary, Manager, President usually follow the name.

Examples: Mr. Charles Simpson, Secretary

Mr. John Smith, President

VII. Memorize the following possible forms of greetings used in business letters.

Degree of formality	Men	Women
Formal	Dear Sir, (= G.B.: Dear sirs, USA: Dear Gentlemen)	Dear Madam, (= G.B.: Dear Madames)
less formal and friendly	Dear Mr. Smith	Dear Mrs. Jackson

VIII. Memorize the following Complimentary Close:

yours faithfully

faithfully yours

yours truely

yours sincerely

sincerely yours

cordially yours (USA)

Note: It is always quite sufficient to use «Yours faithfully» in business letters, «Yours truly» in personal letters to a stranger, and «Yours sincerely» to a friend or acquaintance. The Americans, on the whole, prefer «Yours truly» in business and «Cordially yours», when writing to a friend.