Rules of Writing Letters of Complaint

Vocabulary

Read the letter of complaint below and do the exercises 1,2 and 3.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my disappointment with the dress I recently purchased from your store on October 9. While I was initially excited to receive the garment, it was unfortunately discovered to be defective upon arrival. 

First of all, when I received the dress I have noticed an open seam under the collar. Moreover, while trying the dress on, I have discovered that the zipper was broken too. Besides, there were several oil stains on the sleeves.  

I am requesting a prompt resolution to this matter. I would greatly appreciate it if you could replace the defective product with a new one. If a replacement is not possible I would like to request a full refund for the purchase. I believe this is a fair solution considering the product was not as advertised and does not function as intended. 

I trust that this matter will be addressed with the utmost expediency and that a satisfactory resolution can be reached. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Simon Harding

Exercise 1.

What is the author of the letter complaining about? 

Exercise 2.

Find examples of the subjunctive form in the letter.

Exercise 3.

Which expressions common to letters of complaint can you find in the text? What others do you know?

Now you are going to write your own letter of complaint. Imagine that you have ordered a certain item in an online shop and it was delivered with a defect, so now you have to write a complaint letter on their web-site revealing the main problems. Your letter must be at least 150 words. Use the scaffolding below to write your letter. You have 45 minutes to complete the task. Don't forget to publish it in the comments.

Tips:

1. Focus on the most important facts. Don't give unnecessary background information.
2. Make sure you include:the reason for writing
3. what went wrong
4. what you would like to happen now.
5. Complaint letters are usually written in a formal style.
6. Use passives to be less direct and more formal

Useful phrases for a letter of complaint:

Phrasal verbs

Exercises on LearningApps

1. https://learningapps.org/watch?v=piyc38fan24 

2. https://learningapps.org/watch?v=pvvir5ig224

3. https://learningapps.org/watch?v=p3we5ap1v24

Exercise 2

Select one phrasal verb from each verb group (go, look, stand) and use it in your own sentence. Publish your answers in the comments.

Sentence Rhythm in English

The Emphasis Pattern of English

Basically words can be divided into two categories: content words and structure words. Content words are those which carry the basic meaning of a sentence, such as nouns and verbs. Structure words, also called function words, show grammatical relationship, such as pronouns and prepositions. In general, content words need to emphasized, while structure words are usually de-emphasized and reduced. 

In the table bellow you can find parts of the sentence that are considered content and structure words. Give your own examples of content and structure words.  

Content and Structure Words

So, while reading you should remember to make the stressed syllables in the emphasized words louder, longer, clearer, and high-pitched.

Exercise for practice.

Read the text bellow. Find content and structure words in the text. Read the text out loud with the right stress pattern.

Why is America called "America"

Why did European geographers give the name America to the lands that Columbus discovered? Why did they not name them instead after Columbus? 

The reason is that to the end of his life Columbus believed that his discoveries were part of Asia. The man who did most to correct this mistaken idea was Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was an Italian sailor from the city of Florence. During the late 1490s he wrote some letters in which he described two voyages of exploration that he had made along the coasts of South America. He was sure, he wrote, that these coasts were part of a new continent. 

Some years later Vespucci's letters were read by a German scholar who was revising an old geography of the world. The letters convinced the scholar that Vespucci was correct, and that the lands beyond the Atlantic were a new continent. To honor Vespucci the scholar named them America, using the feminine form of Vespucci's first name as the other continents had female names.

Native Americans. Homework

Alaska's Indigenous Tribes

Read the text about Inupiaq tribe. Select one of the tribes discussed in the class and compare it with the tribe mentioned in the text. Publish your answer in the comments.

White Settlers Encounter Alaska Natives

The first mass of white settlers to Alaska occurred during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s to about 1907. Prior to this, most white citizens in Alaska were affiliated with the US military. Thanks to the discovery of gold in Alaska, some fifty settlements were founded during the gold rush, with many remaining even after the bust. Only the discovery of gold prompted full exploration of the vast territory, with most of Alaska having been unexplored by Americans after its purchase from Russia some thirty years earlier.

 

Alaska Native Tribes

Alaska maintains the highest ratio of indigenous people as part of total state population, at between 15 and 20 percent. This is almost certainly influenced by the relatively low rate of immigration into Alaska by white settlers. There are five main groups of Alaska Native tribes: the Northwest Coast Indians, the Inupiaqs, the Yupiks, the Aleuts, and the Athabascans. Aside from the Athabascans, who lived in the vast interior of Alaska, most Alaska Natives lived near the coast and relied heavily on fishing. Due to their more hunting-dominant lifestyle, the Athabascans are more culturally similar to continental Native American tribes like the Navajo and Apache. Today, there are 228 federally-recognized Alaska Native tribes.

The Iñupiaq People

The Iñupiaq, which translates into the “real people,” have been in Barrow, Alaska, for about 4,000 years. To survive in the harsh Arctic environment, the Iñupiaq developed a deep understanding of the area’s natural resources and how to make good use of them, and created a culture of cooperation and sharing. They traded with their neighbors (and with others in the 1800s), and hunted, primarily seals, caribou, and bowhead whales. MAIN GROUPS The Iñupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik tended to live in small groups of related families of 20-200 people, in five main geographical regions:
St. Lawrence Island Yupiit
Bering Strait Inupiat
Kotzebue Sound Inupiat
North Alaska Coast Inupiat, Tareumiut (da-gia-mee-ute), people of the sea
Interior North Inupiat, Nunamiut (nu-na-mee-ute) people of the land

HOUSE TYPES & SETTLEMENTS

They used a variety of designs and materials, but three key features were common:

• An underground tunnel entrance below the living level to trap cold air;
• A semi-subterranean structure, using the ground as insulation.
• A seal-oil lamp from soapstone or pottery, for light, heat, and cooking. Homes were usually made from sod blocks, sometimes laid over driftwood or whalebone and walrus bone frames, generally dome-shaped. The shape was usually rectangular, except on St. Lawrence Island, where the houses were circular of varying sizes. The rectangular houses generally were 12-15 by 8-10 feet, holding 8 to 12 people.

In the summer, many of these houses flooded when the ground thawed, but most people had already moved to their summer camps. Community houses, called qargi, were used as a work area in Iñupiaq settlements. 

TRADITIONAL SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS

Traditional subsistence patterns depend upon location and season of the resources, such as whales, marine mammals, fish, caribou, and plants. For instance:

• Whales and sea mammals were hunted in the coastal and island villages.
• Pink and chum salmon; cod, inconnu, and whitefish were fished whenever ice formed; herring and crab and halibut were also caught.
• Birds and eggs formed an important part of the diet.

Native Americans. Classwork

 Lesson 1. Native Americans

Links for class work:

Presentation (Prezi): https://prezi.com/v/view/5sEs7GTjZLuQhkhZDiJx/

Group work (Miro): https://miro.com/welcomeonboard/czlRenp2SDhZUTc0Y3JKaUtBMlBnMzBUenM5MTFtTXk1YTJDU0dsT0lPSzM1TzQzNkVpdTNvTGpNc0Z0aFJ5VHwzNDU4NzY0NTgwOTY4NzIyMDk1fDI=?share_link_id=186233454055

Test (Google Forms): https://forms.gle/Nszm7FQG7mGraVM89