Aim:
This page is to help you develop your ability to use a positive tone in letters
of adjustment. Letters of complaint are often written with a very negative tone,
but you should not copy the negative words, you should replace them with
positive or neutral ones.
Examples:
| Negative | Positive / Neutral |
| your complaint | your comment |
| failure | operation / functioning |
| problem | issue |
| the lack of | the number of |
| too many | the large number of |
Exercise
Here is a letter of complaint.
The tone is negative, as shown by the following words and phrases: spoiled,
unworkable, and several wasted hours. Read the situation and the
letter, then move on to the reply and edit it.
Situation
You are an administrator for Exhibitions International, a
company which organises business exhibitions and trade fairs around the world.
You have received the following letter of complaint about your company's most
recent exhibition.
|
Flat 303 Lucky Mansions 856 Cheung Sha Wan Road Cheung Sha Wan Kowloon
The Administrative Officer Dear Sir/Madam I attended your exhibition Sound Systems at the Fortune Hotel from and found it informative and interesting. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the event was spoiled by a number of organisational problems. I explain each of the problems below. Firstly, I had difficulty in registering to attend the event. You set up an on-line registration facility, but I found the facility totally unworkable. Even after spending several wasted hours trying to register in this way, the computer would not accept my application. I eventually succeeded in registering by faxing you. Secondly, the exhibition was held at one of Hong Kong's most prestigious hotels, but frankly the venue was better suited to a medium-sized business conference than to a large exhibition open by registration to the public. The lack of space led to serious overcrowding in the venue, particularly at peak visiting times (i.e. lunch times and early evening). On one or two occasions I was also seriously concerned about the physical safety of attendees. The final point I want to make concerns product information. It is very enjoyable to see and test a range of excellent sound systems, but it is also important to be able to take away leaflets on interesting products, so that more research can be done before deciding which system to buy. However, by the time I attended the exhibition all the leaflets had been taken. Could I please ask you to look into these matters - not only on my behalf but also on behalf of other attendees, and in fact on behalf of your company, too. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully Michael Leung Michael Leung |
Instructions:
In the following letter choose the options that give the letter a positive
tone. You can see your score underneath the letter. Then click the 'See
Feedback' button next to the score.
hits since 25 March 2004.
If you have any suggestions or questions, please e-mail us at .