How to write a letter: Find the Mistakes!

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, and this lesson will help you to write better letters.

Whether you need to write a letter for your IELTS exam, or at work, or in life in general,

this lesson will help you because we're going to focus on eight common letter-writing mistakes.

Okay? Let's see if you know what they are, and also how to correct them. Okay.

Number one: "I look forward to see you.",

"I look forward to see you."

What's wrong with that? Well, this is a very common error, actually. Most people don't realize that they're

making it, but it's a really important thing to correct. So, it should be not:

"I look forward to see you." But: "I look forward to

seeing you.",

"I look forward to seeing you.", "I look forward to meeting you.",

"I look forward to discussing these ideas with you." Right?

Whatever verb you put here, you need to say it or write it with "ing".

Remember that. Okay.

Next, number two:

"Tanks your letter." Okay?

This person has written:

"Tanks your letter."

Now, the person actually wants to say:

"Thanks", but many people make a mistake, first of all,

in the spelling of this word.

It does have an "h" in it,

so it should be: "Thanks",

and then there's another mistake. Right now it says: "Thanks your letter."

But that's not correct. It should be: "Thanks",

what's the right preposition? "Thanks",

"Thanks for your letter." Okay? Or:

"Thank you for your letter." Okay. Next, number three:

"Please to give my regard to Mr. Smith.",

"Please to give my regard to Mr. Smith."

Okay. There are two mistakes, here. See if you can find them. Okay. So,

the first one is right here.

We don't say: "Please to give", "Please to write", "Please something".

No. We just say: "Please give", "Please reply". Right?

"Please respond", "Please ask".

Don't say: "to ask" or anything like that.

"Please give my regard" is not right.

It should be

"regards".

"Please give my regards to Mr. Smith." All right? We can't say "regard"

just like that, without the "s", so make sure you add an "s" there.

Number four: "I am interesting your products.",

"I am interesting your products."

That's not right. We need to say, what? Can you find the mistake?

Here.

"I am interested", okay?

"I am interested", your products are interesting. So the thing you're talking about is with

the "ing". The product is interesting, the book is interesting, the movie is interesting.

Okay? But when we talk about my feelings or somebody's feelings about that, we have to

say that with the "ed". "I am interested", "I am excited", okay? Like that. But there's

still one other small mistake, now. Now it says:

"I am interested your products."

So this part is right: "I am interested", but we need to have a preposition after that.

What is it? "I am interested

in",

"I am interested in your products." Okay? Good.

Number five:

"When I will be in London, I'll call you."

Okay?

"When I will be in London, I'll call you."

In many languages, this would... This kind of structure would be correct, but

in English, it's not, because there are really two parts to this sentence. Right? This one:

"When I will be in London",

and then the other part: "I'll call you".

So I'll help you to find the mistake by telling you that

this part of the sentence is actually fine.

"I'll call you" is short for "I will call you",

that's fine, but in this part of the sentence

which has a conditional word-all right?-we do not put the future tense. We write, here,

we use, here, the present simple tense. So, instead of saying: "When I will be in London",

we say: "When I"...

"When I am in London" or "When I'm in London, I'll call you." Okay?

So when you have a sentence like that in the future and you're going to... You have two

parts that have future in one section, in the other section don't use the future tense,

just use present simple. And it doesn't matter what the order is. It's the same principle

if the sentence was: "I'll call you", right?

"I'll call you when I'm in London."

So even if we change the order, the principle stays the same. Okay.

Number six: "It was pleasure to meet you."

This one's almost right, but not completely right.

So, what's wrong, here?

It should be: "It was

a pleasure".

Okay? We need to have that article "a".

"It was a pleasure to meet you.",

"It was a pleasure to see you again."

And so on.

Number seven: "We must to inform the client.",

"We must to inform the client."

Well, that's wrong. In this case we don't have to add something;

we need to take something out. What is it?

We need to take out the word

"to". So, after a modal like that, "must", we can't use "to".

Not: "We must to inform", just: "We must inform the client.",

"We should inform the client.",

"We could inform the client."

All those kind of words-right?-"could", "should", "must",

we don't need to say "to". So just: "We must inform the client." Good.

And the last one, look at it carefully. It says:

"Yours sincerely," the words are right,

but there is still a mistake there. Can you find the mistake?

"Yours sincerly,"

this word is one of the most misspelled words in the English language.

So, I hope you're not making that mistake.

So the correct spelling of "sincerely" is...

Okay? Sincere, just like the word "sincere"

has an "e" at the end, keep that "e" when you add "ly". Okay?

S-i-n-c-e-r-e-l-y.

Many people leave out the "e". All right? So make sure you're not one of them, especially if

you sign your letters saying: "Sincerely," or: "Yours sincerely," which is a very common

way to end a general letter or a general business letter. Okay?

So make sure that you are not making these very common mistakes. If you want to make

sure that you understand this... These mistakes really well and that you don't make them,

please go to our website at www.engvid.com.

There you can do a quiz on this subject, and also

watch hundreds of other videos that will help you to improve your English much faster.

Okay?

Thanks for watching. Good luck with your English.

Bye for now.