Pronouns

Pronoun

A pronoun can replace a noun or another pronoun. You use pronouns like "he," "which," "none," and "you" to make your sentences less cumbersome and less repetitive.

Grammarians classify pronouns into several types, including the personal pronoun, the demonstrative pronoun, the interrogative pronoun, the indefinite pronoun, the relative pronoun, the reflexive pronoun, and the intensive pronoun.

Personal Pronouns

A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case.

Subjective Personal Pronouns

A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence. The subjective personal pronouns are "I," "you," "she," "he," "it," "we," "you," "they."

In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is a subjective personal pronoun and acts as the subject of the sentence:

I was glad to find the bus pass in the bottom of the green knapsack.

You are surely the strangest child I have ever met.

He stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him.

When she was a young woman, she earned her living as a coal miner.

After many years, they returned to their homeland.

We will meet at the library at 3:30 p.m.

It is on the counter.

Are you the delegates from Malagawatch?

Objective Personal Pronouns

An objective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as an object of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase. The objective personal pronouns are: "me," "you," "her," "him," "it," "us," "you," and "them."

In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is an objective personal pronoun:

Seamus stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him.

The objective personal pronoun "her" is the direct object of the verb "forced" and the objective personal pronoun "him" is the object of the preposition "with."

After reading the pamphlet, Judy threw it into the garbage can.

The pronoun "it" is the direct object of the verb "threw."

The agitated assistant stood up and faced the angry delegates and said, "Our leader will address you in five minutes."

In this sentence, the pronoun "you" is the direct object of the verb "address."

Deborah and Roberta will meet us at the newest café in the market.

Here the objective personal pronoun "us" is the direct object of the compound verb "will meet."

Give the list to me.

Here the objective personal pronoun "me" is the object of the preposition "to."

I'm not sure that my contact will talk to you.

Similarly in this example, the objective personal pronoun "you" is the object of the preposition "to."

Christopher was surprised to see her at the drag races.

Here the objective personal pronoun "her" is the object of the infinitive phrase "to see."

Possessive Personal Pronouns

A possessive pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as a marker of possession and defines who owns a particular object or person. The possessive personal pronouns are "mine," "yours," "hers," "his," "its," "ours," and "theirs." Note that possessive personal pronouns are very similar to possessive adjectives like "my," "her," and "their."

In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a possessive personal pronoun:

The smallest gift is mine.

Here the possessive pronoun "mine" functions as a subject complement.

This is yours.

Here too the possessive pronoun "yours" functions as a subject complement.

His is on the kitchen counter.

In this example, the possessive pronoun "his" acts as the subject of the sentence.

Theirs will be delivered tomorrow.

In this sentence, the possessive pronoun "theirs" is the subject of the sentence.

Ours is the green one on the corner.

Here too the possessive pronoun "ours" function as the subject of the sentence.

Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun points to and identifies a noun or a pronoun. "This" and "these" refer to things that are nearby either in space or in time, while "that" and "those" refer to things that are farther away in space or time.

The demonstrative pronouns are "this," "that," "these," and "those." "This" and "that" are used to refer to singular nouns or noun phrases and "these" and "those" are used to refer to plural nouns and noun phrases. Note that the demonstrative pronouns are identical to demonstrative adjectives, though, obviously, you use them differently. It is also important to note that "that" can also be used as a relative pronoun.

In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is a demonstrative pronoun:

This must not continue.

Here "this" is used as the subject of the compound verb "must not continue."

This is puny; that is the tree I want.

In this example "this" is used as subject and refers to something close to the speaker. The demonstrative pronoun "that" is also a subject but refers to something farther away from the speaker.

Three customers wanted these.

Here "these" is the direct object of the verb "wanted."

Interrogative Pronouns

An interrogative pronoun is used to ask questions. The interrogative pronouns are "who," "whom," "which," "what" and the compounds formed with the suffix "ever" ("whoever," "whomever," "whichever," and "whatever"). Note that either "which" or "what" can also be used as an interrogative adjective, and that "who," "whom," or "which" can also be used as a relative pronoun.

You will find "who," "whom," and occasionally "which" used to refer to people, and "which" and "what" used to refer to things and to animals.

"Who" acts as the subject of a verb, while "whom" acts as the object of a verb, preposition, or a verbal.

The highlighted word in each of the following sentences is an interrogative pronoun:

Which wants to see the dentist first?

"Which" is the subject of the sentence.

Who wrote the novel Rockbound?

Similarly "who" is the subject of the sentence.

Whom do you think we should invite?

In this sentence, "whom" is the object of the verb "invite."

To whom do you wish to speak?

Here the interrogative pronoun "whom " is the object of the preposition "to."

Who will meet the delegates at the train station?

In this sentence, the interrogative pronoun "who" is the subject of the compound verb "will meet."

To whom did you give the paper?

In this example the interrogative pronoun "whom" is the object of the preposition "to."

What did she say?

Here the interrogative pronoun "what" is the direct object of the verb "say."

Relative Pronouns

You can use a relative pronoun is used to link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause. The relative pronouns are "who," "whom," "that," and "which." The compounds "whoever," "whomever," and "whichever" are also relative pronouns.

You can use the relative pronouns "who" and "whoever" to refer to the subject of a clause or sentence, and "whom" and "whomever" to refer to the objects of a verb, a verbal or a preposition.

In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a relative pronoun.

You may invite whomever you like to the party.

The relative pronoun "whomever" is the direct object of the compound verb "may invite."

The candidate who wins the greatest popular vote is not always elected.

In this sentence, the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb "wins" and introduces the subordinate clause "who wins the greatest popular vote." This subordinate clause acts as an adjective modifying "candidate."

In a time of crisis, the manager asks the workers whom she believes to be the most efficient to arrive an hour earlier than usual.

In this sentence "whom" is the direct object of the verb "believes" and introduces the subordinate clause "whom she believes to be the most efficient". This subordinate clause modifies the noun "workers."

Whoever broke the window will have to replace it.

Here "whoever" functions as the subject of the verb "broke."

The crate which was left in the corridor has now been moved into the storage closet.

In this example "which" acts as the subject of the compound verb "was left" and introduces the subordinate clause "which was left in the corridor." The subordinate clause acts as an adjective modifying the noun "crate."

I will read whichever manuscript arrives first.

Here "whichever" modifies the noun "manuscript" and introduces the subordinate clause "whichever manuscript arrives first." The subordinate clause functions as the direct object of the compound verb "will read."

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun referring to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. An indefinite pronoun conveys the idea of all, any, none, or some.

The most common indefinite pronouns are "all," "another," "any," "anybody," "anyone," "anything," "each," "everybody," "everyone," "everything," "few," "many," "nobody," "none," "one," "several," "some," "somebody," and "someone." Note that some indefinite pronouns can also be used as indefinite adjectives.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are indefinite pronouns:

Many were invited to the lunch but only twelve showed up.

Here "many" acts as the subject of the compound verb "were invited."

The office had been searched and everything was thrown onto the floor.

In this example, "everything" acts as a subject of the compound verb "was thrown."

We donated everything we found in the attic to the woman's shelter garage sale.

In this sentence, "everything" is the direct object of theverb "donated."

Although they looked everywhere for extra copies of the magazine, they found none.

Here too the indefinite pronoun functions as a direct object: "none" is the direct object of "found."

Make sure you give everyone a copy of the amended bylaws.

In this example, "everyone" is the indirect object of the verb "give" -- the direct object is the noun phrase "a copy of the amended bylaws."

Give a registration package to each.

Here "each" is the object of the preposition "to."

Reflexive Pronouns

You can use a reflexive pronoun to refer back to the subject of the clause or sentence.

The reflexive pronouns are "myself," "yourself," "herself," "himself," "itself," "ourselves," "yourselves," and "themselves." Note each of these can also act as an intensive pronoun.

Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a reflexive pronoun:

Diabetics give themselves insulin shots several times a day.

The Dean often does the photocopying herself so that the secretaries can do more important work.

After the party, I asked myself why I had faxed invitations to everyone in my office building.

Richard usually remembered to send a copy of his e-mail to himself.

Although the landlord promised to paint the apartment, we ended up doing it ourselves.

Intensive Pronouns

An intensive pronoun is a pronoun used to emphasise its antecedent. Intensive pronouns are identical in form to reflexive pronouns.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are intensive pronouns:

I myself believe that aliens should abduct my sister.

The Prime Minister himself said that he would lower taxes.

They themselves promised to come to the party even though they had a final exam at the same time.

Read More..

Verb + to Infinitive

Infinitive

In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual (traditional) description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition of infinitive that applies to all languages. Many Native American languages and some languages in Africa and Aboriginal Australia simply do not have infinitives or verbal nouns. In their place they use finite verb forms used in ordinary clauses or special constructions.

In languages that have infinitives, they generally have most of the following properties:

• In most uses, infinitives are non-finite verbs.
• They function as other lexical categories — usually nouns — within the clauses that contain them, for example by serving as the subject of another verb.
• They do not represent any of the verb's arguments (as employer and employee do).
• They are not inflected to agree with any subject
• They cannot serve as the only verb of a declarative sentence.
• They do not have tense, aspect, moods, and/or voice, or they are limited in the range of tenses, aspects, moods, and/or voices that they can use. (In languages where infinitives do not have moods at all, they are usually treated as being their own non-finite mood.)
• They are used with auxiliary verbs.

However, it bears repeating that none of the above is a defining quality of the infinitive; infinitives do not have all these properties in every language, as it is shown below, and other verb forms may have one or more of them. For example, English gerunds and participles have most of these properties as well.

Infinitives in English

English has three non-finite verbal forms, but by long-standing convention, the term "infinitive" is applied to only one of these. (The other two are the past- and present-participle forms, where the present-participle form is also the gerund form.) In English, a verb's infinitive is its unmarked form, such as be, do, have, or sit, often introduced by the particle to. When this particle is absent, the infinitive is said to be a bare infinitive; when it is present, it is generally considered to be a part of the infinitive, then known as the full infinitive (or to-infinitive), and there is a controversy about whether it should be separated from the main word of the infinitive. (See Split infinitive.) Nonetheless, modern theories typically do not consider the to-infinitive to be a distinct constituent, instead taking the particle to to operate on an entire verb phrase; so, to buy a car is parsed as to [buy [a car]], not as [to buy] [a car].

The bare infinitive and the full infinitive are mostly in complementary distribution. They are not generally interchangeable, but the distinction does not generally affect the meaning of a sentence; rather, certain contexts call almost exclusively for the bare infinitive, and all other contexts call for the full infinitive.

Huddleston and Pullum's recent Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL) does not use the notion of the infinitive, arguing that English uses the same form of the verb, the plain form, in infinitival clauses that it uses in imperative and present-subjunctive clauses.

Uses of the bare infinitive

The bare infinitive is not used in as many contexts as the full infinitive, but some of these are quite common :

• The bare infinitive is used as the main verb after the dummy auxiliary verb do, or most modal auxiliary verbs (such as will, can, or should). So, "I will/do/can/etc. see it."

• Several common verbs of perception, including see, watch, hear, feel, and sense take a direct object and a bare infinitive, where the bare infinitive indicates an action taken by the main verb's direct object. So, "I saw/watched/heard/etc. it happen." (A similar meaning can be effected by using the present participle instead: "I saw/watched/heard/etc. it happening." The difference is that the former implies that the entirety of the event was perceived, while the latter implies that part of the progress of the event was perceived.)

• Similarly with several common verbs of permission or causation, including make, bid, let, and have. So, "I made/bade/let/had him do it." (However, make takes a to-infinitive in the passive voice: "I was made to do it.")

• With the word why. So, "Why reveal it?"

• The bare infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb, and is generally the form of a verb that receives a definition; however, the definition itself generally uses a to-infinitive. So, "The word 'amble' means 'to walk slowly.'"

• The bare infinitive form is also the present subjunctive form and the imperative form, although most grammarians do not consider uses of the present subjunctive or imperative to be uses of the bare infinitive.

Uses of the full infinitive

The full infinitive (or to-infinitive) is used in a great many different contexts :

• Outside of dictionary headwords, it is the most commonly used citation form of the English verb: "How do we conjugate the verb to go?"
• It can be used like a noun phrase, expressing its action or state in an abstract, general way. So, "To err is human"; "To know me is to love me". (However, a gerund is often preferred for this — "Being is doing" would be more natural than the abstract and philosophical sounding "To be is to do.")
• It can be used like an adjective or adverb, expressing purpose or intent. So, "The letter says I'm to wait outside", or "He is the man to talk to", or "[In order] to meditate, one must free one's mind."
• In either of the above uses, it can often be given a subject using the preposition for: "For him to fail now would be a great disappointment"; "[In order] for you to get there on time, you'll need to leave now." (The former sentence could also be written, "His failing now would be a great disappointment.")
• It can be used after many intransitive verbs; in this case, it generally has the subject of the main verb as its implicit subject. So, "I agreed to leave", or "He failed to make his case." (This may be considered a special case of the noun-like use above.) With some verbs the infinitive may carry a significantly different meaning from a gerund: compare I stopped to talk to her with I stopped talking to her, or I forgot to buy the bread with I forgot buying the bread.
• It can be used after the direct objects of many transitive verbs; in this case, it generally has the direct object of the main verb as its implicit subject. So, "I convinced him to leave with me", or "He asked her to make his case on his behalf." However, in some cases, the subject of the main clause is also subject of the infinitival clause, as in "John promises Mary to cook", where the cook is John (the subject of the main sentence), and not Mary (the object).
• As a special case of the above, it can often be used after an intransitive verb, together with a subject using the preposition for: "I arranged for him to accompany me", or "I waited for summer to arrive."

When the verb is implied, some dialects will reduce the to-infinitive to simply to: "Do I have to?"

The infinitive with auxiliary verbs

The auxiliary verb do does not have an infinitive — even though do is also a main verb and in that sense is often used in the infinitive. One does not say *I asked to do not have to, but rather, either I asked not to have to or I asked to not have to (but see split infinitive). Similarly, one cannot emphasize an infinitive using do; one cannot say, "I hear him do say it all the time."

Nonetheless, the auxiliary verbs have (used to form the perfect aspect) and be (used to form the passive voice and continuous aspect) both commonly appear in the infinitive: "It's thought to have been a ceremonial site", or "I want to be doing it already."

Defective verbs

The modal auxiliary verbs, can, may, shall, will and must are defective in that they do not have infinitives; so, one cannot say, *I want him to can do it, but rather must say, I want him to be able to do it. The periphrases to be able to, to have to and to be going to are generally used in these cases.

Impersonal constructions

There is a specific situation in which the infinitive is used like an "impersonal future tense", replacing "will". This is done through the construction :

to be + "to" + bare infinitive

Grammatically, this is identical to the instructional "I am to wait outside" construction (above), but does not signify somebody having been issued an instruction; rather, it expresses an intended action, in the same way as "will". This "tense" is used extensively in news reports, eg. –

• The Prime Minister is to visit the West Bank (active)
• Aid is to be sent to war-torn Darfur (passive)
This "future infinitive" construction is interesting in that it only has a future aspect to it in situations where the speaker is significantly distanced from the event. In cases where the subject of the sentence is not quite as distanced from the speaker, then the same construction takes on a sense of instruction or necessity (as in "he is to wait outside", or "he is to go to hospital").

The same construction can be used in conditional clauses - If you are to go on holiday, then you need to work hard (or, conversely, if you want to...then you are to...).

The impersonality aspect comes from the fact that the emotionless verb to be is used in the place of the more usual modal verbs which would normally connect the speaker to the statement. In this way, statements are given weight (as if some external force, rather than the speaker, is governing events).

Conversely, however, the construction also provides an uncertainty aspect, since it frees the speaker from responsibility on their statement – in the phrase "John will go", for example, the speaker is almost advocating their certainty that John will, in fact, go; meanwhile, "the Prime Minister is to go" simply states the knowledge that the PM's going is in some way foreseen. (If John ends up not going, for example, the "will go" construction is negated, while the PM's "to go" construction would still hold true, since all it expresses is an expectation). In both cases, the knowledge is simply being reported (or pretends to be) from an independent source. In this sense, this impersonal to + verb construction can almost be seen as a fledgeling renarrative mood.

Verbs Followed by an Infinitive

agree, aim, appear, arrange, ask, attempt, be able, beg, begin, care, choose
condescend, consent, continue, dare, decide, deserve, detest, dislike, expect, fail, forget, get, happen, have, hesitate, hope, hurry, intend, leap, leave, like, long, love, mean, neglect, offer, ought, plan, prefer, prepare, proceed, promise, propose, refuse, remember, say, shoot, start, stop, strive, swear, threaten, try, use, wait, want, wish. Read More..

Verb + Gerunds

Gerunds in English

In English, the gerund is identical in form to the present participle (ending in -ing) and can behave as a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object), but the clause as a whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) acts as a noun within the larger sentence. For example: Editing this article is easy.

In "Editing this article" (although this is traditionally known as a phrase, it is referred to as a non-finite clause in modern linguistics), the word "Editing" behaves as a verb; the phrase "this article" is the object of that verb. "Editing this article" acts as a noun phrase within the sentence as a whole, though; it is the subject of the verb "is."

Other examples of the gerund:

• I like swimming. (direct object)
• Swimming is fun. (subject)

Verb patterns with the gerund

Verbs that are often followed by a gerund include admit, adore, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, carry on, consider, contemplate, delay, deny, describe, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, feel, finish, give, hear, imagine, include, justify, listen to, mention, mind, miss, notice, observe, perceive, postpone, practice, quit, recall, report, resent, resume, risk, see, sense, sleep, stop, suggest, tolerate and watch. Additionally, prepositions are often followed by a gerund.

For example:

• I quit smoking.
• We postponed making any decision.
• After two years of deciding, we finally made a decision.
• We heard whispering.
• They denied having avoided me.
• He talked me into coming to the party.
• They frightened her out of voicing her opinion.

Verbs followed by a gerund or a to-infinitive

With little change in meaning

begin, continue, start; hate, like, love, prefer

With would, the verbs hate, like, love, and prefer are usually followed by the to-infinitive.

• I would like to work there. (more usual than working)

In these examples, if the subject of the verb is not the subject of the second verb, the second verb must be a gerund (instead of an infinitive).

If one is watching sports on television, for example, one can react to the programs only as follows:

• I enjoy boxing.
• I am ambivalent to swimming.
• I love golfing.

With a change in meaning

dread and hate:

These two verbs are followed by a to-infinitive when talking subjunctively (usually when using to think), but by a gerund when talking about general dislikes.

• I dread / hate to think what she will do.
• I dread / hate seeing him.

forget and remember:

When these have meanings that are used to talk about the future from the given time, the to-infinitive is used, but when looking back in time, the gerund.

• She forgot to tell me her plans. (She did not tell me, although she should have.)
• She forgot telling me her plans. (She told me, but then forgot having done so.)
• I remembered to go to work. (I remembered that I needed to go to work, and so I did.)
• I remembered going to work. (I remembered that I went to work.)

cannot bear:

• I cannot bear to see you suffer like this. (You are suffering now.)
• I cannot bear being pushed around in crowds. (I never like that.)

go on:

• After winning the semi-finals, he went on to play in the finals. (He completed the semi-finals and later played in the finals.)
• He went on giggling, not having noticed the teacher enter. (He continued doing so.)

mean:

• I did not mean to scare you off. (I did not intend to scare you off.)
• Taking a new job in the city meant leaving behind her familiar surroundings. (If she took the job, she would have to leave behind her familiar surroundings.)

advise, recommend and forbid:

These are followed by a to-infinitive when there is an object as well, but by a gerund otherwise.

• The police advised us not to enter the building, for a murder had occurred. (Us is the object of advised.)
• The police advised against our entering the building. (Our is used for the gerund entering.)

consider, contemplate and recommend:

These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive only in the passive or with an object pronoun.

• People consider her to be the best. – She is considered to be the best.
• I am considering sleeping over, if you do not mind.

regret:

• We regret to inform you that you have failed your exam. (polite or formal form of apology)
• I very much regret saying what I said. (I wish that I had not said that.)

try:

When a to-infinitive is used, the subject is shown to make an effort at something, attempt or endeavor to do something. If a gerund is used, the subject is shown to attempt to do something in testing to see what might happen.

• Please try to remember to post my letter.
• I have tried being stern, but to no avail.

Gerunds preceded by a genitive

Because of its noun properties, the genitive (possessive case) is preferred for a noun or pronoun preceding a gerund.

• We enjoyed their [genitive] singing.

This usage is preferred in formal writing or speaking. The objective case is often used in place of the possessive, especially in casual situations:

• I do not see it making any difference.

Really, 'I do not see its making any difference' is the correct option.

This may sound awkward in general use, but is still the correct manner in which to converse or write. And this form of gerund is applicable in all relative cases, for instance:

                                 'He affected my going there.'

                                 'He affected your going there.'

                                 'He affected his/her/its going there.'

                                 'He affected our going there.'

                                 'He affected their going there.'

This is because the action, of doing or being, belongs, in effect, to the subject/object (direct or indirect) practising it, thus, the possessive is required to clearly demonstrate that.

In some cases, either the possessive or the objective case may be logical:

• The teacher's shouting startled the student. (Shouting is a gerund, and teacher's is a possessive noun. The shouting is the subject of the sentence.)
• The teacher shouting startled the student. (Shouting is a participle describing the teacher. This sentence means The teacher who was shouting startled the student. In this sentence, the subject is the teacher herself.)

Either of these sentences could mean that the student was startled because the teacher was shouting.

Using the objective case can be awkward if the gerund is singular but the other noun is plural. It can look like a problem with subject-verb agreement:

• The politicians' debating was interesting.

One might decide to make was plural so that debating can be a participle.

• The politicians debating were interesting.

 it may..  considered as a noun / pronoun..



Example Verbs Followes by a Gerund : admit, advise, appreciate, avoid, can't help,

complete, consider, delay, deny, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, excuse, finish, forbid,

get through, have, imagine, mind, miss, permit, postpone, practice, quit,recall,report,

resent, resist, resume, risk, spend (time), suggest, tolerate, waste (time).

Read More..

material for business english 1 final exam

Thursday, 31 th December 2009
Exercise

1. If you don't register before the last day of regular registration, you would
A B
pay a late fee.
C D
* Answer : A, the correct answer is didn't register.

2. Basal body of temperature refer to the lowest temperature of a healthy
A B C
individual during waiting hours.
D
* Answer : A, the correct answer is refers.

3. If your friends came to visit, will they stay in a hotel or at your house ?
A B C D
* Answer : B, the correct answer is would.

4. Our friends might stopped to see us on their way to California.
A B C D
* Answer : A, the correct answer is stop.

5. Water boil at 212'F, and freezes at 32' F.
A B C
* Answer : B, the correct answer is boils.

6. Many birds will, in the normal course of their migrations, flies more than
A B
three thousand miles to reach their winter homes.
C D
* Answer : B, the correct answer is fly.

7. The sheepdog is chased after the sheep which is heading over the hill.
A B C D
* Answer : A, the correct answer is chasing.

8. Before the report is finalized the information in their notes and our must
A B C D
be proofed.
* Answer : C, the correct answer is ours.

9. I really miss to be with my close friends in my country.
A B C D
* Answer : B, the correct answer is being.

10. We have been hoping going to Mecca for many years.
A B C D
* Answer : D, the correct answer is go.

11. Kayla ask Safira forget to give presentations of their projects yesterday.
A B C D
* Answer : A, the correct answer is forgot.

12. Gina have given contribition to the developmnet of Islam many times.
A B C D
* Answer : A, the correct answer is has.

13. Every morning fairuz begin learning to walk.
A B C D
* Answer : B, the correct answer is begins. Read More..

Practise in describing company location

it should always be related to the job. Remember, although the employer is asking personal questions, they are still all related to "what can you bring to the company?" So, I usually give adjectives like reliable, loyal, etc., but make sure you back these with supporting examples. The most important thing is to make sure you boil it all down to presenting the answer in a way that it matches the things the employer is looking for.

Here is more advice :

• Think about what kind of person you would like working for you and convey that to the employer. The best advice I can give to a job seeker is first aim high, well as high as you are capable of and realize the more you are willing to learn through experience or school is valuable. See yourself as a commodity. Be honest about your capabilities, if you don't know how to do something, say you don't know but let the employer know you are capable of learning and even give an example of something else you learned to do, maybe at another job or even a hobby. Most jobs will have to train you to their way and processes so don't undermine your capability and be proud of your accomplishments in life because they will only bring you up.

• Just list off a few characteristics that you see yourself as having. Make all of the characteristics sound as positive as possible. This question is usually asked in order to gauge how a person perceives him- or herself. Just be honest. Are you outgoing? Shy? Diligent? Stubborn? Clever? Passionate? Level-headed? Easy-going? etc., etc. Don't stress too much.

If you can't think of anything, think of a few people who know you and imagine how they would describe you. Pretend that your mom, a sibling, a good friend, a co-worker, and your spouse or significant other are all sitting down in a room making a list of your characteristics and then use the things you think they would say.

• A job interview is NO TIME to be shy. Brag about yourself. It's expected. Brag about all of your good points and don't mention anything negative or anything you "can't do." Be positive and upbeat.

• With complete honesty, don't try to make yourself better than you are, but don't yourself down, either.

• Employers love to ask you questions that get to your perception of yourself. These may come in several forms - "How do you describe yourself"; "What are the qualities you possess that make you the best candidate for this job"; "What do you bring to this company that will make this company stronger" or a variation on these are commonly asked.

• Your resume should already have a personal statement that discusses your qualities - in the most positive terms possible. Make sure you are familiar with your resume. VERY familiar. This is especially important if you didn't write it yourself, or if you have multiple resumes tailored to different positions.

• Because this is such a common question, it may be a good idea to sit down ahead of time and list 4-5 qualities and examples in your previous experience where these qualities allowed you to overcome a problem or succeed at a task.

• Remember, the interview is not a "game"
where you are trying to outsmart the interviewer to get the job. Your best strategy is to honestly sell yourself and your abilities to an employer to get a job that is a good fit for you, in a company that is a good fit for you. Outsmarting an interviewer to get a job in a company or position that ultimately leads to unhappiness on either or both sides is really outsmarting yourself.

• Give a fair answer, tell them about your strong and weak points, but try to emphasize some of your qualities. For example, you could say that you are a hard-working, responsible, serious person, you are able to handle with people, able to work under stress, you are an easy learner. Don't be shy to talk about your creative "side".But be honest, admit that you also had some "bad moments" in your past jobs.

• Your answer should be relevant to the job for which you are being interviews. Do not start going into your personal life. Keep your self-introduction professional!

• A person is defined in three ways: (1) who he is right now, (2) what he has done in the past, and (3) what he will become in the future.

So, here is how you answer: (1) I am a [the job title for which you are applying or something very close.] (2) I have [how many years of experience] in [what field, what subject]. (3) I want to be [a job title that is a couple or a few levels above the current position for which you are applying in 5 to 10 years.] Close your answer with an affirmative question: "Is there anything else you want to know?"

• You should be very straightforward and honest in replying to this question. The interviewer wants to check if what you have mentioned in your resume is correct or not.

• I would answer the question based on who is interviewing me? If it's a sales manager/Technical Manager/Human resources manager? Depending on the person's field I'll have to mend the answer to please him... I feel that everyone's goals are different... so analyze that and then answer.

• Answer this question with your 30-second "elevator speech" about yourself. The standard format for this speech is... "I am a (BLANK), who does (WHAT)." In my case... I am a PROJECT MANAGER, who PROVIDES QUALITY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, Blah, Blah, Blah. (you get the idea).

• Let me share what my recruiting office tells its candidates as they head out for that crucial face-to-face interview. When asked to "tell me about yourself," say, "I will gladly answer that question, but may I first ask you a question? (They ALWAYS say yes) So that I may better focus my answer, what are the issues you want me to address should you hire me? Once they share with you what they need to have you do, then proceed to address how your training, education, skills, and experience can best resolve these issues. By answering in this fashion, you have proven that you know how to focus ... and that you have what's needed to fix the issues they need to have fixed. It's always a winner ... and beats the heck out of, "Well, let's see, I was born on a small farm in Idaho ..."

• I suggest you go into the interview with a few "talking points" about yourself, in other words things you want the interviewer to know about you. Then you try to hit those points in response to any questions you are asked, such as "tell us about yourself." Also be sure to have copies of your resume with you and offer them. In general, interviews go better when you spend them listening and don't talk. If the interviewer is just telling you about the job, you might have a good shot at it.

• This is the chance for you to run down a 30-60 second sales pitch for yourself. The employer doesn't want to know that you like gardening or have four dogs. Here's where you start usually with your education and highlight selling points about your skills, experience and goals.

More Suggestions :

It's one of the most frequently asked questions in an interview: Tell me about yourself. Your response to this request will set the tone for the rest of the interview. For some, this is the most challenging question to answer, as they wonder what the interviewer really wants to know and what information they should include.


The secret to successfully responding to this free-form request is to focus, script and practice. You cannot afford to wing this answer, as it will affect the rest of the interview. Begin to think about what you want the interviewer to know about you.

List five strengths you have that are pertinent to this job (experiences, traits, skills, etc.). What do you want the interviewer to know about you when you leave?
Prepare a script that includes the information you want to convey. Begin by talking about past experiences and proven success.

Next, mention your strengths and abilities :

"My real strength is my attention to detail. I pride myself on my reputation for following through and meeting deadlines. When I commit to doing something, I make sure it gets done, and on time."

Conclude with a statement about your current situation:

"What I am looking for now is a company that values customer relations, where I can join a strong team and have a positive impact on customer retention and sales."

Practice with your script until you feel confident about what you want to emphasize in your statement. Your script should help you stay on track, but you shouldn't memorize it -- you don't want to sound stiff and rehearsed. It should sound natural and conversational.

Even if you are not asked this type of question to begin the interview, this preparation will help you focus on what you have to offer. You will also find that you can use the information in this exercise to assist you in answering other questions. The more you can talk about your product - you - the better chance you will have at selling it.

Here are examples given by Contributors :

• Hard worker, quick and eager learner, pays attention to detail.
• Example : Because of past experience and MBA degree, I am versatile and can perform well in many kinds of positions. Now I am looking for a challenging internship position in an established company. Basically, I am an experienced and flexible person can be successful at any kind of finance works.
• "Hardworking", "Task-oriented", "Solution-oriented", "Dependable", "Motivated", "Independent", "Team player" are all examples of good terms you can use. There are many more.
• I am a self-starter dedicated, hard-working person who works well with other, punctual, detail oriented a team player, great organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Describe yourself as outgoing, hardworking, dependable, eager to learn and grow professionally, etc.
• Fast paced, quick learner and very challenging. That's all they want to hear.
• This question is usually asked in order to gauge how a person perceives himself
• Just be honest. List off a few characteristics that you see yourself as having. Actually, a question of this kind is an ideal way to plug in everything we want to say about ourselves that we had leave out of the CV
• If you have attended a premier institution, say that the institution taught you much more than the degree it awarded you. Mention people who influenced you, talk about the books you like reading, your hobbies and your other interests
• Talk about your strengths. Mention an instance when you used your conflict resolution skills or selling skills or whatever. But make certain that it does not sound like blowing your trumpet. Mention these instances as a good learning experience
• Talk about your weaknesses, but make sure that they are positive weaknesses. For instance you could say that that you are a person that pays more attention to details than is warranted. You can openly confess a tendency to be impatient with team members who cannot carry their own weight, or who cannot contribute sufficiently
• Maintain the right tone in doing so. You do not want to give the interviewer the wrong impression or make him feel that you get impatient at times
• No one can do that for you as only you know yoursel
• If asked to then you should do so. Prepare yourself for personal questions such as thi
• Just list off a few characteristics that you see yourself as having. If it's for a job interview, make all of the characteristics sound as positive as possible. This question is usually asked in order to gauge how a person perceives him or herself. Just be honest. Are you outgoing? shy? diligent? stubborn? clever? passionate? level-headed?
• Don't stress too much. If you can't think of anything. Then think of a few people who know you and imagine how they would describe you. Pretend that your mom, a sibling, a good friend, a co-worker, and your spouse or significant other are all sitting down in a room making a list of your characteristics and then use the things you think they would say.
• Do not mention a bad quality if you are not working on it eg. what is your weakest quality? I am not very competent using computers but I am currently taking a evening course to rectify that/ i am going to.
• Most importantly back up what you say, why are you reliable? Read More..

E-mail

Electronic mail, often abbreviated as email, e.mail or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages. E-mail systems are based on a store-and-forward model in which e-mail computer server systems accept, forward, deliver and store messages on behalf of users, who only need to connect to the e-mail infrastructure, typically an e-mail server, with a network-enabled device (e.g., a personal computer) for the duration of message submission or retrieval. Originally, e-mail was always transmitted directly from one user's device to another's; nowadays this is rarely the case.

An electronic mail message consists of two components, the message header, and the message body, which is the email's content. The message header contains control information, including, minimally, an originator's email address and one or more recipient addresses. Usually additional information is added, such as a subject header field.

Originally a text-only communications medium, email was extended to carry multi-media content attachments, which were standardized in with RFC 2045 through RFC 2049, collectively called, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).

The foundation for today's global Internet e-mail service was created in the early ARPANET and standards for encoding of messages were proposed as early as 1973 (RFC 561). An e-mail sent in the early 1970s looked very similar to one sent on the Internet today. Conversion from the ARPANET to the Internet in the early 1980s produced the core of the current service.

Network-based email was initially exchanged on the ARPANET in extensions to the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), but is today carried by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), first published as Internet standard 10 (RFC 821) in 1982. In the process of transporting email messages between systems, SMTP communicates delivery parameters using a message envelope separately from the message (headers and body) itself.


Spelling

There are several spelling variations that are occasionally the cause of vehement disagreement.

email is the form officially required by IETF Request for Comments and working groups and is also recognized in most dictionaries.

e-mail is a form still recommended by some prominent journalistic and technical style guides.

Less common forms include eMail and simply mail.

mail was the form used in the original RFC. The service is referred to as mail and a single piece of electronic mail is called a message.

eMail, capitalizing only the letter M, was common among ARPANET users and early developers from Unix, CMS, AppleLink, eWorld, AOL, GEnie, and Hotmail.

EMail is a traditional form that has been used in RFCs for the "Author's Address" and is expressly required "...for historical reasons...".

Origin

Electronic mail predates the inception of the Internet, and was in fact a crucial tool in creating the Internet.

MIT first demonstrated the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) in 1961.It allowed multiple users to log into the IBM 7094 from remote dial-up terminals, and to store files online on disk. This new ability encouraged users to share information in new ways. E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. Although the exact history is murky, among the first systems to have such a facility were SDC's Q32 and MIT's CTSS.

Host-based mailsystems

The original email systems allowed communication only between users who logged into the one host or "mainframe", but this could be hundreds or thousands of users within a company or university. By 1966 (or earlier, it is possible that the SAGE system had something similar some time before), such systems allowed email between different companies as long as they ran compatible operating systems, but not to other dissimilar systems.

Examples include BITNET, IBM PROFS, Digital All-in-1 and the original Unix mail.

LAN-based mailsystems

From the early 1980s networked personal computers on LANs became increasingly important - and server-based systems similar to the earlier mainframe systems developed, and again initially allowed communication only between users logged into the one server, but these also could generally be linked between different companies as long as they ran the same email system and (proprietary) protocol.

Examples include cc:Mail, WordPerfect Office, Microsoft Mail, Banyan VINES and Lotus Notes - with various vendors supplying gateway software to link these incompatible systems.

Attempts at Interoperability

• Novell briefly championed the open MHS protocol
• uucp was used as an open "glue" between differing mail systems
• The Coloured Book protocols on UK academic networks until 1992
• X.400 in the early 1990s was mandated for government use under GOSIP but almost immediately abandoned by all but a few — in favour of Internet SMTP

The rise of ARPANET-based mail

The ARPANET computer network made a large contribution to the development of e-mail. There is one report that indicates experimental inter-system e-mail transfers began shortly after its creation in 1969.Ray Tomlinson is credited by some as having sent the first email, initiating the use of the "@" sign to separate the names of the user and the user's machine in 1971, when he sent a message from one Digital Equipment Corporation DEC-10 computer to another DEC-10. The two machines were placed next to each other. The ARPANET significantly increased the popularity of e-mail, and it became the killer app of the ARPANET.

Most other networks had their own email protocols and address formats; as the influence of the ARPANET and later the Internet grew, central sites often hosted email gateways that passed mail between the Internet and these other networks. Internet email addressing is still complicated by the need to handle mail destined for these older networks. Some well-known examples of these were UUCP (mostly Unix computers), BITNET (mostly IBM and VAX mainframes at universities), FidoNet (personal computers), DECNET (various networks) and CSNet a forerunner of NSFNet.

An example of an Internet email address that routed mail to a user at a UUCP host:

hubhost!middlehost!edgehost!user@uucpgateway.somedomain.example.com

This was necessary because in early years UUCP computers did not maintain (or consult servers for) information about the location of all hosts they exchanged mail with, but rather only knew how to communicate with a few network neighbors; email messages (and other data such as Usenet News) were passed along in a chain among hosts who had explicitly agreed to share data with each other.

Message format

The Internet e-mail message format is defined in RFC 5322 and a series of RFCs, RFC 2045 through RFC 2049, collectively called, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, or MIME. Although as of July 13, 2005, RFC 2822 is technically a proposed IETF standard and the MIME RFCs are draft IETF standards,[these documents are the standards for the format of Internet e-mail. Prior to the introduction of RFC 2822 in 2001, the format described by RFC 822 was the standard for Internet e-mail for nearly 20 years; it is still the official IETF standard. The IETF reserved the numbers 5321 and 5322 for the updated versions of RFC 2821 (SMTP) and RFC 2822, as it previously did with RFC 821 and RFC 822, honoring the extreme importance of these two RFCs. RFC 822 was published in 1982 and based on the earlier RFC 733.

Internet e-mail messages consist of two major sections:

• Header — Structured into fields such as summary, sender, receiver, and other information about the e-mail.
• Body — The message itself as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. This is exactly the same as the body of a regular letter.
The header is separated from the body by a blank line.

Message header

Each message has exactly one header, which is structured into fields. Each field has a name and a value. RFC 5322 specifies the precise syntax.

Informally, each line of text in the header that begins with a printable character begins a separate field. The field name starts in the first character of the line and ends before the separator character ":". The separator is then followed by the field value (the "body" of the field). The value is continued onto subsequent lines if those lines have a space or tab as their first character. Field names and values are restricted to 7-bit ASCII characters. Non-ASCII values may be represented using MIME encoded words.

Header fields

The message header should include at least the following fields:

• From: The e-mail address, and optionally the name of the author(s). In many e-mail clients not changeable except through changing account settings.
• To: The e-mail address(es), and optionally name(s) of the message's recipient(s). Indicates primary recipients (multiple allowed), for secondary recipients see Cc: and Bcc: below.
• Subject: A brief summary of the topic of the message.
• Date: The local time and date when the message was written. Like the From: field, many email clients fill this in automatically when sending. The recipient's client may then display the time in the format and time zone local to her.
• Message-ID: Also an automatically generated field; used to prevent multiple delivery and for reference in In-Reply-To: (see below).

Note that the "To:" field is not necessarily related to the addresses to which the message is delivered. The actual delivery list is supplied separately to the transport protocol, SMTP, which may or may not originally have been extracted from the header content. The "To:" field is similar to the addressing at the top of a conventional letter which is delivered according to the address on the outer envelope. Also note that the "From:" field does not have to be the real sender of the e-mail message. One reason is that it is very easy to fake the "From:" field and let a message seem to be from any mail address. It is possible to digitally sign e-mail, which is much harder to fake, but such signatures require extra programming and often external programs to verify. Some Internet service providers do not relay e-mail claiming to come from a domain not hosted by them, but very few (if any) check to make sure that the person or even e-mail address named in the "From:" field is the one associated with the connection. Some Internet service providers apply e-mail authentication systems to e-mail being sent through their MTA to allow other MTAs to detect forged spam that might appear to come from them.

RFC 3864 describes registration procedures for message header fields at the IANA; it provides for permanent and provisional message header field names, including also fields defined for MIME, netnews, and http, and referencing relevant RFCs. Common header fields for email include:

• Bcc: Blind Carbon Copy; addresses added to the SMTP delivery list but not (usually) listed in the message data, remaining invisible to other recipients.
• Cc: Carbon copy; Many e-mail clients will mark e-mail in your inbox differently depending on whether you are in the To: or Cc: list.
• Content-Type: Information about how the message is to be displayed, usually a MIME type.
• In-Reply-To: Message-ID of the message that this is a reply to. Used to link related messages together.
• Precedence: commonly with values "bulk", "junk", or "list"; used to indicate that automated "vacation" or "out of office" responses should not be returned for this mail, eg. to prevent vacation notices from being sent to all other subscribers of a mailinglist.
• Received: Tracking information generated by mail servers that have previously handled a message, in reverse order (last handler first).
• References: Message-ID of the message that this is a reply to, and the message-id of the message the previous was reply a reply to, etc.
• Reply-To: Address that should be used to reply to the message.
• Sender: Address of the actual sender acting on behalf of the author listed in the From: field (secretary, list manager, etc.).
• X-Face: Small icon.

Message body

Content encoding

E-mail was originally designed for 7-bit ASCII. Much e-mail software is 8-bit clean but must assume it will communicate with 8-bit servers and mail readers. The MIME standard introduced character set specifiers and two content transfer encodings to enable transmission of non-ASCII data: quoted printable for mostly 7 bit content with a few characters outside that range and base64 for arbitrary binary data. The 8BITMIME extension was introduced to allow transmission of mail without the need for these encodings but many mail transport agents still do not support it fully. In some countries, several encoding schemes coexist; as the result, by default, the message in a non-Latin alphabet language appears in non-readable form (the only exception is coincidence, when the sender and receiver use the same encoding scheme). Therefore, for international character sets, Unicode is growing in popularity.

Uses

In society

There are numerous ways in which people have changed the way they communicate in the last 50 years; e-mail is certainly one of them. Traditionally, social interaction in the local community was the basis for communication – face to face. Yet, today face-to-face meetings are no longer the primary way to communicate as one can use a landline telephone, mobile phones or any number of the computer mediated communications such as e-mail.

Research has shown that people actively use e-mail to maintain core social networks, particularly when others live at a distance. However, contradictory to previous research, the results suggest that increases in Internet usage are associated with decreases in other modes of communication, with proficiency of Internet and e-mail use serving as a mediating factor in this relationship.With the introduction of chat messengers and video conference there are more ways to communicate.

Flaming

Flaming occurs when a person sends a message with angry or antagonistic content. Flaming is assumed to be more common today because of the ease and impersonality of e-mail communications: confrontations in person or via telephone require direct interaction, where social norms encourage civility, whereas typing a message to another person is an indirect interaction, so civility may be forgotten. Flaming is generally looked down upon by Internet communities as it is considered rude and non-productive.

E-mail bankruptcy

Also known as "e-mail fatigue", e-mail bankruptcy is when a user ignores a large number of e-mail messages after falling behind in reading and answering them. The reason for falling behind is often due to information overload and a general sense there is so much information that it is not possible to read it all. As a solution, people occasionally send a boilerplate message explaining that the e-mail inbox is being cleared out. Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig is credited with coining this term, but he may only have popularized it.

In business

E-mail was widely accepted by the business community as the first broad electronic communication medium and was the first ‘e-revolution’ in business communication. E-mail is very simple to understand and like postal mail, e-mail solves two basic problems of communication: logistics and synchronization (see below). LAN based email is also an emerging form of usage for business. It not only allows the business user to download mail when offline, it also provides the small business user to have multiple users e-mail ID's with just one e-mail connection. Read More..

Letter of Inquiry

Letter of Inquiry

A letter of inquiry is a general term used for a number of different kinds of business letters addressed to a company. For example, applicants usually send a letter of inquiry, with an enclosed résumé (CV), to an employer for whom they would like to work. Companies send a letter of inquiry to their business partner when they need information about the goods they'd like to order. A letter of inquiry is usually short and to the point, containing only the request and a short introduction with an address, phone number or e-mail address from the sender's side.

General Format

Elements

Business letters (in the United States) usually contain the following elements, in order:
• Sender's address & contact information.
• Date of writing.
• Subject.
• Recipient's name, title, company, & address.
• Salutation/greeting.
• Message (body of the letter).
• Valediction/closing.
• Sender's signature.
• Sender's name, title, company.

In some situations, a business letter may also include the following optional information:

• Enclosures (Encl.: or Enc.:).
• Carbon Copy Recipients (cc:).
• Reference Initials (of the typist, if different from original author of letter).

Line Spacing

In general, each element or paragraph of the letter is followed by a single blank line, except:

• the date, followed by three or four blank lines.
• the final content paragraph, followed by two blank lines.
• the valediction/closing, followed by three or four blank lines (enough for the sender to sign the letter), and
• the sender's title, followed by two blank lines.

Font Formatting

No special character or font formatting is used, except for the subject line, which is usually underlined.

Punctuation

The salutation/greeting is generally followed by a comma, although in the United States a colon is often preferred. The valediction/closing is followed by a comma.

Example Template

[SENDER'S NAME]
[SENDER'S ADDRESS]
[SENDER'S PHONE]
[SENDER'S E-MAIL]

[DATE]


[RECIPIENT W/O PREFIX]
[RECIPIENT'S TITLE]
[RECIPIENT'S COMPANY]
[RECIPIENT'S ADDRESS]

(Optional) Attention [DEPARTMENT/PERSON],

Dear [RECIPIENT W/ PREFIX],

Re: [SUBJECT]

[CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
CONTENT CONTENT. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT.]

[CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
CONTENT CONTENT. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT. CONTENT CONENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT
CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT.]


[VALEDICTION (Sincerely, Respectfully, Regards, etc.)],




[SENDER]
[SENDER'S TITLE]


Enclosures ([NUMBER OF ENCLOSURES])

cc: [CC RECIPIENT], [CC RECIPIENT TITLE]
[CC RECIPIENT], [CC RECIPIENT TITLE]


Indentation Formats

Business letters generally conform to one of four indentation formats: Block, Semi-Block, Modified Block, and Modified Semi-Block. Put simply, "Semi-" means that the first lines of paragraphs are indented; "Modified" means that the sender's address, date, and closing are significantly indented.

Block

In a Block format letter, (1) all text is aligned to the left margin, (2) paragraphs are not indented.

Semi-Block

In a Semi-Block format letter, (1) all text is aligned to the left margin, (2) paragraphs are indented.

Modified Block

In a Modified Block format letter, (1) all text is aligned to the left margin, except for the author's address, date, and closing; and (2) paragraphs are not indented. The author's address, date, and closing are usually indented three inches from the left margin, but can be set anywhere to the right of the middle of the page, as long as all three elements are indented to the same position.


Modified Semi-Block

In a Modified Semi-Block format letter, (1) all text is aligned to the left margin, except for the author's address, date, and closing; and (2) paragraphs are indented. The author's address, date, and closing are usually indented three inches from the left margin, but can be set anywhere to the right of the middle of the page, as long as all three elements are indented to the same position.

Not same at all places

The format of a letter is not same at all places. So if you are a school student, then don't fully accept this if your syllabus is different.

Example :

CBSE Board (India)
The usual format (If I am writing)...
My Address
(leave a line)
Date (DD Month YYYY)
(Leave one line)
Receiver's Designation & Address(Can take 2 or more lines)
(leave a line)
Sub:-_______________________________________(Subject)
(leave a line)
Salutation"Sir"
(leave a line)
Body:
Parah 1-What , Why and other initials
(Leave a line)
Parah 2-Describe the problem
(Leave a line)
Parah 3-Request for help or action
(leave a line)
Complementary Close "Yours Faithfully" "Abc" (my name)


• A letter of inquiry clearly and concisely describes: the project, its aims, its significance, its duration and the amount of funds required. The document should never exceed five pages.
• Generally they are 2-3 pages.
• The letter of inquiry should not include any additional supporting information such as videotapes, financial reports, annual reports.
• Letter confirming organization’s charitable/tax-exempt status may be required.


Components of a Letter of Inquiry

• Opening paragraph.
• Statement of need/rationale.
• Organizational description/expertise.
• Description of the project (include timeline and outcomes).
• Budget request and information.
• Closing.


Opening Paragraph

• Summary statement.
• Stand alone.
• Make it clear what you want the reader to do.
• Answer the following questions.
• What are you proposing to do.
• How much is being requested.
• Over what time period.
• Say if you are responding to an RFP.
• Keep the paragraph short.

Example of Opening Paragraph

Syracuse University is pleased to submit a letter of inquiry to the Getty Trust Campus Heritage Grants for the completion of a variety of structural and building envelope condition surveys. Our goal is to develop a comprehensive condition assessment and preservation plan that will be the basis of future capital projects that will ensure the preservation of our historic structures. We estimate the cost of the project will be $190,000. “


Statement of Need

• Who is affected by the problem.
• What factors, or causes, contribute to the existence of the problem.
• What can be done to ameliorate the problem.
• What your organization (and others) are doing to currently address the problem.
• What remains to be done.
• What consequences the target population will face if this need is not met.


Project Activity

• Give a general overview of the activities involved.
• Highlight why your approach is novel and deserving of funding.
• List other collaborators.


Outcomes (1-2) paragraphs)

• State what will be the specific outcomes achieved.
• Indicate how evaluation is part of the project – how will you know you’ve achieved these outcomes?

Credentials

• Demonstrate why you are best equipped to carry out this activity.
• Put any historic background about the institution here.
• Organizational capacity to carry out proposed project
• Major recent accomplishments


Budget

• State the total project cost and how much you will requesting
• Indicate broad categories of activities to be funded.
• Include other sources of funding, both cash and in-kind. Especially indicate what SU will contribute. Do not overlook the value of all in-kind contributions, including those of your collaborators.

Closing

• Offer to give any additional information the foundation might need.
• Give a contact name and contact information for foundation follow-up.
• Let them know that you will give them a call to follow up.
• Express appreciation for the reader’s attention.
• Ask, “May we submit a full proposal?”.


Inquiry Letter Example

1102 West 30th
Lawrence, KS 66321
August 4, 19XX

Dr. Maria Gomez-Salinas
Director of the Diabetes Clinic
St. David's Hospital
1000 Greenberg Lane
Wichita, KS 66780


Dear Dr. Gomez-Salinas:

I am writing you in hopes of finding out more about how the
new Glucoscan II blood glucose monitoring system, which a
representative at Lifescan informed me that your clinic is
currently using.

Originally, I saw Lifescan's advertisement of this new
device in the January 19XX issue of Diabetes Forecast and
became very interested in it. I wrote the company and got
much useful information, but was recommended to write
several current users of the system as well.

For a technical report that I am writing for a technical
writing class at Johnson County Junior College, I need some
help with the following questions:


1. How often does the Glucoscan II need to be calibrated in practical, everyday use conditions?
2. How accurate is the Glucoscan II compared to other similar systems that your patients have used?
3. What problems do your patients experience with this new device?



The Lifescan representative indicated that your clinic is
one the leaders in implementing new technology for
diabetics, and therefore I am eager to hear from you. In
the report I will acknowledge your contributions, and I
will send you a copy of the completed report if you wish.

Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,



Anita Teller
Student, Medical Technology
Johnson County Junior College Read More..