VB036 Week 5
A) Formal Letter Exercise
The following is an informal letter requesting an informational interview at a law firm. Change it so it
sounds more formal (and the applicant actually has a chance of seeing the desired person!). The
problem parts are highlighted for you; rewriting of other parts is fine as long as it is related to the
phrases in bold:
Hi Ms. Goldstein!
I’m now an undergraduate student at Ivy League University majoring in Criminal Justice. My buddy,
Filoména Šebestová, who previously worked for your Law Firm as an Office Clerk, told me I should
contact you for a nice info interview.
I’d love to be a business law attorney, such as yourself. Filoména said you’re a great business law
attorney that is going to help me a lot about understanding the field. Now I’m in the process of
exploring different professional law schools. Your background and experience in business law will be
great for me as I pursue my career in law. I hope seeing you is ok, I would like to schedule a 20-25
minute informational meeting with you. Why I want to see you is to gather additional information
that will better assist me with my career decisions.
I’ll contact you by telephone on June 9th to see if we can schedule a meeting. Thanks for your
attention, and I hope we can spend some productive time together pretty soon!
Have a nice day,
Přemysl Vomáčka
B) Benchmarking
1) Look at the first five paragraphs of the Benchmarking article in Discovering Computers, p.
648. Why are the paragraphs arranged in such way? What do they do?
2) Try to summarize the five paragraphs using only one sentence for each of the paragraphs. Try
to use your own words.
3) Now look at the first paragraph and focus on the individual sentences. What is their purpose
in the paragraph?
4) Focus on the linking words between the sentences.
VB036 Week 5
C)Linking Words Exercise
1) Polls show that Tony Blair is the most popular Prime Minister this century. ______________ ,
there are even members of his own party who are uneasy with his approach.
In particular However For instance
2) There are some slight variations in temperature, but ________________ 26 to 27ºC should be
expected.
Consequently otherwise as a rule
3) The two main Channel Islands, ________________ Jersey and Guernsey, are much closer to France
than to England.
For example namely in particular
4) It was announced that nurses' working hours would be increased by 25%. ______________ , even
fewer trainee nurses are expected to join the profession.
As a result So that Likewise
5) Sales of CDs have experienced a small but steady fall over the past 12 months. _____________ ,
vinyl records have seen an increase in their share of the market, up to 1.7%.
Above all Correspondingly In contrast
6) The Vice Chancellor explained that in light of the current financial climate and because of
unexpected bad debts, it would be necessary to peg salary levels at their current level for all grades
of staff. ______________ , no-one was getting a pay rise.
Nevertheless In other words Similarly
7) It is clear, therefore, that the situation in Brazil will improve only slowly. ______________ the
economic problems being experienced in Japan, the outlook is slightly more optimistic.
Furthermore In comparison With reference to
8) In order to try to reduce car use in the inner cities, the government has announced new
restrictions on company parking spaces and ______________ , a new tax on individual car use.
As well as in addition in the same way
9) Essays must be handed in by the deadline, ______________ they will not be marked.
Obviously otherwise as a result
10) ______________ it has been shown that fractures can occur at even relatively low pressures, the
use of the material should not be completely discounted.
Nevertheless Because Even though