1. Understanding an email.

Read the email update about an ongoing project. Then put the topics into the order they are mentioned in the email.

Dear James,

You'll be happy to hear that we're working very hard here and making good progress. I'm about to start that report you asked me for. You see, we've had a few problems recently. The computers crashed last week and we lost a lot of files. Don't worry, we didn't lose everything. What else? Oh yes, the toilets are fixed (more or less), and the telephone company are to come next week to find out what the problem is with the phone. Did I tell you about the phone? Well, it doesn't matter. The good news is that the painting is finished (except for the entrance, the toilets and your office). It looks great. We expect everything to be finished in a month or two. Jonathan is taking photos for you. Next week he is going to New York for a meeting. I will have to do his work while he is away. I'm sure it won't be too difficult! Anyway, the weather has been good. I hope it stays like this until the weekend. I have to go now. I can smell something burning. I hope you are having a relaxing holiday.

See you soon,

Andy

Put the topics into the order they are mentioned in the email.

2. Understanding an email.

Read the email from the previous exercise again. Mark the sentences true or false.


3. Introducing and connecting ideas.

Choose the best option to complete the email from exercise 1.

4. Review of tenses vs. time.

Drag the phrases in blue to the correct box.

5. Using the infinitive.

Look at this example:

I am pleased to meet you.

In this sentence to meet is a to + infinitive form of a verb, in this case, after an adjective, pleased.

Here is part of the email from exercise 1. Find more examples of to + infinitive and drag them to the correct box.

6. Using the infinitive.

Choose which use of to + infinitive each sentence represents.

7. Using the infinitive.

Now use to + infinitive to make the second sentence mean the same as the first.

8. An email.

Choose the correct options to complete the email.

9. Writing Tutorial 4.

Write a short email to a colleague who is away (in another city or country). Tell her/him recent news about your office or work. Include information about the people you work with. (You can invent this.) Write about:

  • what you are doing at the moment (now)
  • what happened last week (in the past)
  • what you have or haven't done (past until now)
  • what you are doing next week (in the future)
  • what is about to happen (things scheduled to happen very soon)

Remember to use these words and phrases:

Well, ...
Don't worry, ...
You'll be happy to hear ...
What else?