Unit 2. Making Arrangements
Additional Practice Tests.
Below, you will find additional practice test questions for making arrangements. Try to write some letters yourself and try to get them corrected by an IELTS teacher, or you can use the essay marking and correction service.
Focus Question 2. Changing Existing Arrangements.
Dear Tom,
How are you my dear friend? Actually, I'm just writing regarding our plans to have a weekend excursion to Hamburg, which we planned to do next weekend.
Wow! How time flies; it came so soon, and I'm really looking forward to it. However, I have a slight hiccup, though I think we can resolve it quite easily. You see, the problem is that I'm going to my baby sister's first birthday party next weekend, so I need to change our plans to a later date.
If it's not too inconvenient for you, I'd prefer the weekend after next, which would be the 26th and the 27th of May. Provided you agree, I'll call the airline and change the flights, which won't be a problem because I've already checked, and there are plenty of seats still available.
Okay Tom, please accept my sincere apologies for re-arranging things, but it couldn't be avoided as it's a family celebration. I hope you understand.
Anyway, drop me a line and let me know whether you agree to the weekend after next. Take care my friend.
Best regards,
Alan.
Practice Task 1. Arranging a Graduation Dinner.
Dear Sir,
My name is Alan Harris, and I am writing to you because I would like to arrange a graduation dinner at your Italian restaurant for the students in my class.
The details of our graduation meal are as follows: The date of the dinner will be next Friday, so because I know that Friday is a busy day at your restaurant, we will arrive fairly early. In fact, I would like to book one large table for a large group of 22 people, which includes myself, from 4.30 pm. We expect to finish by 8.pm, so if you have other bookings, our dining should not prevent you from accepting clients who dine in the evening.
Due to the large group I represent, I thought I would inform you in advance what we want to order. Everyone will have a house salad, garlic bread and spinach dip for starters. In addition, twelve people want minestrone soup. For the main course, we all want the buffet seafood option except for three of our group who are vegetarians; they will have the three-cheese pizza.
Finally, please call me on 01735434465 to confirm the booking, and/or if you have any questions. Thanks in advance for considering my booking.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Alan Harris.
Practice Task 2. A Car Rental.
Dear Sir,
My name is Mr. Alan Brookes, and I am writing to inform you that I want to book a vehicle from your car hire company for the purpose of a summer camping vacation next month.
The details of my requirements are as follows: I will travel with three of my friends for a two week excursion of the northern lakes, so we will need a comfortable vehicle that is robust enough to navigate some imperfect countryside roads. Our travel dates are from the 15th to the 29th of June.
Also, please be advised that because one of my friends uses a wheelchair, the vehicle needs to have a sliding door, so an SUV is probably the most suitable model. Naturally, I expect you to indicate the full specifications of the vehicle that you propose for our trip.
Finally, could you perhaps email me (alan10101@hotmail.com) to confirm the total cost including details of any damage waivers you offer? I look forward to receiving some information soon.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Alan Brookes.
Practice Task 3. Moving to a New Apartment.
Dear Mr. Banks,
My name is Alan Smith, and I am writing in relation to the apartment rental that we signed last week for the first floor flat at 23 Sycamore Drive in Kenton.
You may recall that my wife and I loved the apartment when you showed it to us, so we were very much looking forward to moving in next month on the 3rd of March. However, we have a slight complication, which will prevent us from moving on that date. Unfortunately, we both have to travel to Scotland for a company training course, which does not conclude until the end of March. Please accept our deepest apologies for this inconvenience, which is very regrettable to say the least.
In spite of this inevitable delay, I would like to propose that we move into the apartment on the 1st of April, though I accept we are contractually bound to pay the rent for March. If this new moving date is convenient for you, please let me know.
I appreciate your patience and understanding and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Alan Smith.
Practice Task 4. Making Arrangements for a Music Concert.
Dear Ricky,
How are you doing my good friend? You know, I haven't seen you for weeks, so I was thinking we should get together sometime soon.
In fact, I was wondering whether you might like to come to a music concert on Saturday night as I have a pair of tickets to see The Eric Clapton Revival Band, who are playing at the Apollo Theatre.
I know it's short notice, but what happened was that my brother Charlie bought four tickets for himself and three friends, but two of them backed out at the last minute. I know you work until about 7. pm on Saturday, and even though the doors open at 7.30 pm, the band won't start until about 9. pm so there's plenty of time. It'll probably finish before midnight.
You know, I think you'll love this band because they play a lot of the old Clapton songs with the aid of a classical orchestra, which really adds to the vibrancy of the melodies and especially the ballads.
Anyway, Ricky, let me know if you can make it. I really hope you can. Give me a call.
Best regards,
Alan
Practice Test 5. Letter of Complaint.
Vocabulary · a recalled product: a defective product that is taken off the market ·malfunctions: failures in operation · faulty: defective · apology: an admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret e.g. public apology · annoyance: Being bothered by something or someone e.g. She expressed annoyance at the slow service ·dissatisfaction: a feeling of unhappiness or disapproval, e.g. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the service Letters of Complaint Useful Phrases and Vocabulary · satisfaction: a happy or pleased feeling because of something that you did or something that happened to you ·attitude: the way you think and feel about someone or something · quality: how good or bad something is · to portray: to describe (someone or something) in a particular way ·incompetence: lack of the ability to do something well · to attend to: to give needed help or attention to (someone or something) · severe: very bad, serious, or unpleasant · to compensate: to give money or something else of value to (someone) in return for something ·to demand: to require (something) · hazardous: dangerous · a lawn mower: a machine used for cutting the grass on lawns · assembly: the act of connecting together the parts of something (such as a machine) · to chuckle: to laugh in a quiet way · a welded edge: to join pieces of metal together by heating the edges until they begin to melt and then pressing them together · a coupler: something combined with something else · to misuse: to use (something) incorrectly · hassle: to bother or annoy (someone) constantly or repeatedly
Common Expressions.
Opening a letter of complaint.
Introducing your complaint.
- I am writing this letter to protest about the plan to ...
- I am writing this letter to express my disappointment in relation to the proposal to ...
- I am sorry to have to inform you of the following unfortunate situation: Last week when I visited your ...
- I am writing to express my unhappiness about your decision / plans to ...
- I am writing to make clear / to lodge my displeasure (show my irritation / frustration) at your plans to ...
- I am sorry to have to complain in relation to the following unfortunate situation, which occurred at your ...
- I am writing in connection with an unfortunate experience I had when I visited your store / business etc...
- I am writing this letter to bring to your attention my disapproval of your decision / proposal to ...
- I am writing this letter to complain about an incident that happened on (date) at (time) at (place)
- I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction with the poor service I experienced when I ...
- I am writing in connection with ...
Developing your complaint.
- The reasons for my complaint / objections are three-fold: First of all, ... Also, ... In addition, ...
- Unfortunately, I found the standard of professionalism and workmanship to fall well below what I had come to consider to be an acceptable level in regard to ...
- I am very disappointed with the poor standard(s) of service / workmanship / professionalism I encountered when I visited your ...
- Something that I feel particularly aggrieved about is that ...
- Another source of real dissatisfaction is that ...
- This was not what I had expected. In fact, it is quite the opposite;
- Although, according to your staff, I should have got / the product should have / the service should have included, in fact it fell short of this expectation...
- Notwithstanding the fact that I was assured by your sales assistant / employee that ...
- On using your service / product, I was quite surprised to discover that, despite being assured by your company employees that it would work perfectly, when I got it home, in fact the product failed to ...
Asking the recipient to take action:
- I sincerely hope that you will take my complaint seriously
- I trust you will take appropriate action to remedy this situation in the immediate future so that we can put this unfortunate incident / event(s) behind us.
- I am fully confident that we can overcome this unfortunate situation and come to a mutually agreeable resolution. I trust it would not be inconvenient for you to now act to redress this problem by ...
- I would be sincerely grateful if you could ...
- I hope you will give your immediate attention to this matter...
- I fully anticipate that you will take remedial steps to resolve this matter to our mutual satisfaction. I therefore expect you to ...
- In view of these circumstances, I trust you will see that it would be unfair if I were not given some kind of compensation for my loss / inconvenience ... Therefore, it only seems fair that you provide me with ...
- As a valued customer, I fully expect that you will provide me with ...
- In order to satisfactorily address my grievance, I feel that what would be fair (what would suit me best) would be if you were to ...