- Reference
Thank you for your letter of ………….
With reference to your memo / invoice, ……………..
Further to our telephone conversation yesterday ……………..
Your advertisement / article in …………….. has been brought to our notice / attention.
You may recall that we met ……………… in the course of the conversation you mentioned that ……………….
You will probably be aware / have heard that ………………..
We were pleased / sorry to hear / learn that ……………
We note that ……………..
With regard to your request for / query about ………….
Thank you for pointing out / offering to / drawing our attention to ………..
- Expressing wishes
We would (very much) like to ……………….
We (particularly) want to …………….
We (do) hope ……………
We would prefer not to …………………..
We would rather not ……………
We are reluctant to ………………
- Requests
We would be grateful if you would / could ……………
Would you be so kind as to …………….
We would appreciate it if you could ………..
Could you please …………….
Would you mind …….ing…….
Please let us know when / how much / if ………..
- Drawing attention and reminding
We would point out that …………….
May we draw your attention to ………….
I’m afraid we must remind you that ……….
We do not appear to have received ………..
- Expressing urgency and necessity
……………. at your earliest convenience
…………… as soon as possible
…………… without further delay
…………… by return (of post)
We may be obliged to ………….
We shall be forced to ………..
It is essential that ………..
- Expressing willingness and offers of help
We are / would be (quite) willing / prepared to …………..
Would you like us to …………
Would it be of assistance if we ……….
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with / contact us if we can be of any (further) assistance / if you need any (further) information.
- Apologizing and expressing regret
We are sorry (to hear / learn) that ………..
We apologize most sincerely for ………..
Please accept our apologies for ……………
We (deeply) regret that …………..
Unfortunately ………………..
I’m afraid ………….
- Giving assurance
We assure you / give you our assurance that ………..
You may rest assured that ……..
Every endeavour will be made to ……….
We will do our utmost to ensure that ………
You may confidently leave the matter in our / my hands ……
- Standard ending
Assuring you of our continued attention,
- Asking for clarification
It is not clear whether …………
We are not sure if …….
It would be of assistance if you could supply us with further details of / more information about ……….
We would be grateful if you could clarify this.
- Making suggestions and proposals
Might / may we suggest that …………
One possible solution would be to ………
We propose to …….
We are planning to ……..
- Asking for approval
We (sincerely) hope / trust that ………………… will be to your satisfaction / meet with your approval.
We hope / trust that you will have no objections / be agreeable to ……..
Would you have any objection if ………..?
- Confirmation
May I confirm the arrangements for / that ………
Would you please confirm that ……..
If we hear nothing further from you / nothing to the contrary, we shall assume / take it that ……..
We shall await your confirmation before going ahead.
(informal) Please drop us a line if ………….
- Expressing dissatisfaction and complaining
We regret to have to inform you that …….
We are experiencing difficulties in ……….ing………
We are at a loss to know how / why ………
We trust this matter will receive your prompt attention / be dealt with immediately.
………………. has proved highly unsatisfactory / most reliable
……………… leaves much to be desired / is totally inadequate
- Polite refusals to requests and excuses
We are (fully) aware of the problems, but unfortunately …………….
We (fully) appreciate your difficulties / point of view but …………
I’m afraid / Regretfully we are not in a position to / not able to ……..
We feel that (at this stage) it would be better / be unwise / not be in our interest to ......
We realize this is not ideal, however ……..
- Clearing up misunderstandings
There appears to be some misunderstanding about ………
Some misunderstanding seems to have arisen as to ………
We were under the impression / given to understand / led to believe that ….......
We were not aware / did not realize that ………….
- Stalling
We shall be looking into / reviewing the whole question of …………… in the near future. (Until then ……….)
We wish to ……………. before taking any (further) action / proceeding any further ……… currently under discussion / being discussed
In the meantime / As an interim measure …………..
……………… pending a detailed report / clarification