Ordering goods

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Coachpotato

#120085 Thu, 21 Jul 05 02:13 PM

Hello, I'm new to the forum and I find it really kind of you that you take all the trouble to help other people. I'm Spanish and have just started working as a secretary. My boss has given me a letter to translate into English, could you please have a look at it and tell me if it's right? I've underlined some expressions I'm not sure at all. Thank you very much in advance.

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are writing to you to do our first order from your catalogue no 28. According to our telephone conversation and due to the fact that this is our first contact with your company, we enclose our bank account data (?). Moreover, we have authorised the bank manager to inform you of our solvency and reliability.

Would you please send the following articles as soon as possible?

REFERENCE ARTICLE AMOUNT PRICE

................... ............ .............. ..........

We would be grateful if you acknowledged receipt(?) of our order and let us know your terms of payment(?) and way of delivery(?).

We hope you will accept our order and send it as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully, (signature)

Ms. ***

Enc.

Coachpotato

Joined on Wed, Jul 20 2005

Spain

Full Member (233)

Yours Faithfully, Conversations, Articles, Expressions

davkett

#120208 Thu, 21 Jul 05 10:42 PM

Very close, Coachpotato. In what language is the original letter written? I offer a couple of changes, in red. (But remember, I am not doing a translation.)

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are writing to you to place our first order from your catalogue, no. 28. In accordance with our telephone conversation, and because this is our first contact with your company, we enclose our bank account number (?) . Moreover, we have authorised [authorized=American spelling, authorised=British spelling] the bank manager to inform you of our solvency and reliability.

Would you please send the following items (?) as soon as possible?

.REFERENCE ITEM (?) AMOUNT PRICE

...

We would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of our order and let us know your terms of payment and method of delivery.

We hope you will accept our order and send it as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

(signature)

Ms. ***

Enc.

davkett

Joined on Tue, Jun 7 2005

Pennsylvania, USA

Senior Member (2,788)

"The rose stays fresh in its name..." -Bernard of Morlay

Numbers, Yours Faithfully, Conversations, Spelling, Translation

Coachpotato

#120212 Thu, 21 Jul 05 11:06 PM

Thank you very much for your quick answer Davkett.

As for your question, the original letter was written in Spanish.

Coachpotato

#120662 Sat, 23 Jul 05 03:47 PM

Davkett, may I ask you one more question? Is it correct 'We would be grateful if you would acknowledge ...' ? Isn't that suppose to be a conditional sentence type 2? I thought that a past simple should go there. Thanks for your help.

Coachpotato

Conditionals, Past Simple

davkett

#120666 Sat, 23 Jul 05 04:04 PM

You may very well be right, Coachpotato. I admit to a long hesitation over my revision of that one. I do not have a rule handy, so until a grammarian joins in on the thread, I'd think you could trust your application of 'conditional, type 2'.

PS: For my own edification, may I ask you to share that rule with me here?

davkett

Conditionals

Coachpotato

#121305 Mon, 25 Jul 05 11:21 PM

Oh I don't think I'm the best person to tell you about the rules of English grammar, Davkett. I guess your knowledge of grammar is better * than mine.

What I know is that in conditionals type 2, which are the ones you use when you imagine a future happening, you use a past tense after if . For example: If I were you, I wouldn't buy that car; I would buy a car if I won the lottery.

Again many thanks for your answers Davkett.

*sorry another question, is it better the right word here or should I have said bigger, or higher , or something different?

Coachpotato

Grammar, English Grammar, Tenses, Conditionals, Past Tenses

davkett

#121351 Tue, 26 Jul 05 03:03 AM

Here's the thing, Coachpotato,

I'm not sure I'm right. Really. Maybe, to get this back into the forum for other responders, you could write up the revised version, make a new post under a new subject title with the specific question "acknowledge or would acknowledge?" Try submitting it to the General English Grammar forum, which I believe has more readers.

As for 'better' knowledge, it's okay. I'd probably say 'greater' knowledge...or maybe 'more advanced' knowledge.