English Vocabulary in Use: Advanced Book with Answers and Enhanced eBook Vocabulary Reference and Practice 3rd Edition

How might you complain in the following situations?
1 You are complaining to your flatmate about your noisy neighbours; they’ve been having wild 
parties every weekend for several months now.
2 You’re complaining in a fairly neutral way to your neighbours about a tree of theirs that has grown 
so high it blocks out the sun.
3 You’re writing a formal email to the local newspaper about the problem of noise at night from a 
factory in your neighbourhood.
4 You’re complaining to your boss, with whom you have a fairly informal relationship, about new 
and longer working hours.
5 You’re complaining to a close friend about having to work longer hours.
6 You’re writing an official, formal letter of complaint to the top level of management about a lack 
of safety procedures at work.
The people below are all complaining indirectly. What do they really mean in each case?
1 (
walking into a room
) ‘It doesn’t smell very nice in here!’
2 (
on a school report
) ‘Jorge tends to complete his work rather too quickly.’
3 (
in a reference letter
) ‘Punctuality is not Simone’s highest priority.’
4 (
at a work appraisal
) ‘You’d be well advised to reassess your long-term plans.’
5 (
commenting on a room
) ‘It would benefit from a lick of paint.’
6 (
coming into a room
) ‘The TV seems to be a bit loud.’
73.1
73.2
73.3
73.4

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154
English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
Apology, regret and reconciliation
74
Apologies and excuses: collocations
adjective collocations
noun
sincere, heartfelt
apology
good, perfect, lame, flimsy, weak 
convincing, detailed, phoney