Letters to the Editor

International English Pp 37

Content

• Important reminders• Writing an Essay Pp39• Writing a letter to the editor• Activity – Spread of English

Important reminders

SpellcheckWhat it can do, and what it can’t

• First a word of warning. Take a look at this sentence.

Eye no its knot write• If you read it aloud, it sounds all right: "I know it's

not right". • As you can see though, every single word is wrongly

spelt, and the sentence makes no sense whatsoever when you read it on paper (or on your computer screen). However, since the incorrect spellings also happen to be correct English words, it slipped through the spellcheck without comment.

Similarly, the spellcheck accepted this sentencewithout batting an eyelid.

I cage on a farm • This is supposed to say "eg bur på ein gard“

• The writer obviously thought he could find the present tense of "å bu", and instead found the thing we put wild animals in.

• Sometimes the first suggestion is correct,

sometimes it ain't (sorry "isn't"!).

Word order is also very important

• What is the difference between these three?

1. LARGE SCALE FISHING2. A LARGE FISHING SCALE3. A LARGE FISH SCALE

Letters to the Editor

• All newspapers, both paper versions and Internet newspapers, have a page where letters from readers are published.

• If there is something in the news that you want to respond to, you can write a letter to a newspaper and have your opinion published.

• Such a letter is called a "letter to the editor" (leserinnlegg/lesarinnlegg), and there are certain rules you have to follow.

Tips for writing letters

How to organise letters

• Address • Place your address at the top left hand side of

the page). Note that your name does not need to be included since it will be both printed and signed at the end of the letter:

Abbreviations

• Below your own address you write the name and address of the recipient:

• Note that in the UK and USA the street number is placed before the street name.

• These abbreviations may be used: St. (street), Rd. (road), Ave. (avenue), Blvd. (boulevard), Sq. (square).

Date

• When you write the date, you can use the ISO standard (yyyy-mm-dd), or write the month with letters:

• 10 November 2006; or 2006-11-10. • Notice that although most Europeans would

read 10/11 as being 10 November, Americans read it as 11 October.

How to start the letter • Remember to always start off a letter with a salutation

(greeting). The most common greeting is "Dear": • Formal letters to institutions or people who you don't know

the name of: – Dear Sirs (to a company or organization) – Dear Sir (to an unnamed, male person) – Dear Madam (to an unnamed, female person) – Dear Sir or Madam (if you're not sure if the one you're addressing is a woman

or a man) – Dear Editor; Personnel Manager; Managing Director; etc

• Letters that start off in this matter always end with: Yours sincerely in British English

Normal business letters where you know the recipient's name:

• Dear Mr Smith (Male. In British English we don't use a stop after Mr)

• Dear Ms Smith (Female, now almost recognized as a standard greeting)

• Dear Mrs Smith (Female who is married and prefers this form of address)

• These letters always end with: Yours sincerely

Informal letters

• Dear John • Dear Colleagues • Dear friends • These letters can end with: Yours sincerely, Regards, Kind

regards, Best regards ,Warm regards, Best wishes, Love (depending on how well you know the person you are addressing). Never end a letter that started with "Dear Sirs" with "Love"!!

• Finally: Remember never to use exclamation marks (!!) or abbreviated forms (I'm, didn't, couldn't, etc) in business letters.

Tips for writing a Letter to the Editor…

Tips for writing letters• Provide your full name, e-mail address and phone

number at the top of the letter. Editors need to confirm your identity.

• Support your arguments with facts and figures.• Refer to the article that you’re writing about.• Stick to the point.• Divide your text into two to three paragraphs.• Employ a style which includes appropriate humor

and irony.• No personal attacks.

Layout and example

Class isn’t inevitableI have always enjoyed Gary

Younge’s articles, both for their content and style and his article 10th December was no exception until I came upon his statement that “by eliminating the notion that education is a public good, you eradicate the primary means by which the working class can better themselves”.

While at first sight, the possibilityof students from such a

backgroundto improve their lot by becomingmiddle- or even upper-class wouldappear to be a very good thingin itself, the whole idea seemsto suggest /…/

All I can say is /…/ John Salter

St Etienne du Rouvray, France

KISS-RULE

• In all your formal correspondence, the KISS-rule is relevant: KISS means Keep It Short and Simple. Never use two sentences when one will do. Many newspapers state that a letter to the editor should not exceed 200 words.

Activity The Spread of EnglishPp 37 - 38

Q2 Read the excerpt from BBC News’ article ”Chirac upset by English address” from Friday, 24th March 2006 on page 38 in Global Paths or here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4840160.stm

Activity:After you have read this excerpt from the article on BBC news’ website, write a Letter to the Editor where you express your thoughts about the issues raised in the excerpt.

Video of the incident:http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4840000/newsid_4843700/4843768.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&bbcws=1