Theme: Rules of writing formal letter

123 Elm Ave.
Treesville, ON M1N 2P3
November 23, 2008
Inside Address
The inside address consists of the name and address of the person to whom you are writing. You should try to address the formal letter to a specific person, but if you do not know his or her name, at least try to include his or her title. This address is usually placed four lines below the heading if a word processor is used or one line below the heading if the letter is handwritten.
Mr. M. Leaf (name)
Chief of Syrup Production (title)
Old Sticky Pancake Company 
456 Maple Lane 
Forest, ON 7W8 9Y0
Salutation
Skip one line after the inside address and then type the salutation. Your choice of salutation depends on whether or not you know the intended recipient of the formal letter. The most usual greeting is
Dear
followed by the person's name and punctuated with a colon. If you don't know whether the person you are addressing is a man or a woman, you may begin with
Dear Sir or Madam,
again followed by a colon.
Ms.
may be used if you don't know the marital status of a woman. Furthermore, if the person has a specific title such as
Dr.
make sure that you use it. Here are some examples of each salutation:
Dear Mr. Trunk,
Dear Ms. Root,
Dear Mrs. Branch,
Dear Dr. Acorn
Body.Skip one line after the salutation and begin typing the body of the formal letter. This is the main part of the letter. Keep in mind the rules outlined above regarding brevity and coherence. It is best to use short, clear, logical paragraphs to state your business.
Closing and Signature.This is the end of the letter. Skip one line after the last paragraph of the body of the letter and type the closing. Only the first word of the closing should be capitalized. It is punctuated with a comma. Leave several lines after the closing and type (or print) your signature. Your actual handwritten signature is to be inserted between these two printed lines, written in ink.
Yours sincerely,
Ezra Twig
Your typed signature marks the end of your letter, and while you can write a postscript (P.S.) containing additional information, it is better to include all pertinent details in the body of the letter itself so nothing is accidentally overlooked.Now that your formal letter has been written, read it through in its entirety to ensure you have communicated your points thoroughly and accurately. Then, it's ready to be sent off to its recipient!

Sample Formal Confirmation Letter November 17, 2012 Paul Bryson 15 Pilgrim Way Theodore, VA 49385 Virginia Adair Brookstone Manor Resort and Spa 1400 Brookstone Drive Seaside, NC 30572 Dear Ms. Adair, This letter will confirm our arrangements for our son’s rehearsal dinner at your facilities. The Whitt-Bryson dinner will be held on the evening of Friday, July 6, 2013 in the Sunset Room. As we discussed, our florist and caterer will both be able to access the room by 3:00 to begin preparations. We will need seating arrangements for 75 people, which will be set up prior to that time. I have enclosed the initial deposit and will forward the remainder within 4 weeks of the event. We thank you for all of your help thus far in planning this important event. We look forward to continuing to work with you to make this evening a night the couple and their friends will never forget. Sincerely, Paul Bryson

Grammar. Relative clause
We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.
How to Form Relative Clauses 
Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether he knows her. You could say:
A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?
That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important thing – you want to know who the girl is.
Do you know the girl …
As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the additional information – the girl is talking to Tom. Use „the girl“ only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun „who“). So the final sentence is:
Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?
Grammar: Past Continuous Tense.
We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished
They were playing = 'they were in the middle of playing'. They had not finished playing.
Was/were ~ing is the past continuous:
I/he/she/it was playing/doing/working etc.
we/you/they were playing/doing/working etc.
B. We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished:
* This time last year I was living in Brazil.
* What were you doing at 10 o'clock last night?
* I waved to her but she wasn't looking.
C. Compare the past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did):
Past continuous (in the middle of an action)
* I was walking home when I met Dave. (= in the middle of walking home)
* Ann was watching television when the phone rang.
Past simple (complete action)
* I walked home after the party last night. (= all the way, completely)
* Ann watched television a lot when she was ill last year.
D. We often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:
* Tom burnt his hand when he was cooking the dinner.
* I saw you in the park yesterday. You were sitting on the grass and reading a book.
* While I was working in the garden, I hurt my back.
But we use the past simple to say that one thing happened after another:
* I was walking along the road when I saw Dave. So I stopped and we had a chat.
Compare:
* When Karen arrived, we were having dinner. (= We had already started dinner before Karen arrived.)
* When Karen arrived, we had dinner. (= First Karen arrived and then we had
dinner.)
E. There are some verbs (for example, know/want/believe) that are not normally used in the continuous (see Unit 4A):
* We were good friends. We knew each other well. (not 'we were knowing')
* I was enjoying the party but Chris wanted to go home. (not 'was wanting')
Grammar exercises:
Examples: Miss May was cleaning the chalkboard.
Sally was packing her books into her schoolbag.
You form the past progressive tense like this:
was + present participle
were + present participle
In the examples above, was and were are called helping
verbs, or auxiliary verbs. They help to form the past
progressive tense when you join them to the present