Muestra de writing
Al igual que en los otros tipos de cartas formales, la carta de disculpa sigue el mismo formato, utilizando también el saludo y la despedida correspondientes.
Una carta de disculpa puede ser tanto formal como informal sin embargo en los exámenes oficiales de Cambridge y Escuela Oficial de Idiomas es mucho más común encontrar una carta de disculpa formal.
La carta formal de disculpa se envía generalmente en respuesta a una carta de queja y su propósito es explicar las causas de los problemas mencionados en la queja así como convencer al destinatario de que se tomarían medidas para resolver el problema y asegurar que se evitara que se repita en el futuro.
A principios de la carta nos dirigiremos al destinatario por su nombre (Dear Mr. Sheridan), ya que utilizar estructuras como Dear Sir/Madam es inapropiado. La persona afectada espera que sepamos su nombre.
Introducción
En este párrafo necesitamos decir por qué estamos escribiendo. Se debe comenzar con una disculpa o expresión de preocupación personal acerca de la situación.
Aquí tenemos unas frases útiles para la apertura de la carta:
| I am writing to apologize for… |
| I am writing to offer my apologies for… |
| I must (would like to) apologise for… |
| Please accept my / our sincere / profuse apologies for… |
| We apologise for… |
| Thank you for bringing the matter / issue / problem to our attention. |
| I appreciated your advising me of this incident. |
| I would like to begin by giving my sincere apologies for the inconvenience that you experienced. |
¡¡¡ Recordaremos que no se nos permite utilizar contracciones (I’d, don’t,I’m) en un escrito de registro formal !!!
Main body
En la parte principal del escrito damos razones y explicamos la situación o la causa del error. Es muy importante que para cada problema que aparece en la pregunta utilicemos un párrafo distinto que introduciremos con una linking expression apropiada. También es necesario reconocer la culpabilidad de la empresa (persona) y que se informe sobre las medidas adoptadas.
Después de hablar de todos los problemas (que no suelen ser más de dos), escribiremos un párrafo en el cual ofreceremos una compensación por el error.
Aquí os proporcionaremos expresiones para la parte principal de la carta:
| We accept full responsibility for the mistake. |
| I assure you we are taking the necessary steps to prevent it from happening in the future. |
| You have my assurance that… |
| Please be assured that we will… |
| I am trying to sort it out (sort the problem out) as a matter of urgency. |
| I can assure you that this will not happen again. |
| We are doing everything we can do to resolve the issue. |
| Please allow me to suggest you… as compensation for… |
| To compensate for the inconvenience caused… |
| Please allow me to offer you… by way of compensation… |
Conclusión
En la parte final de la carta se han de pedir disculpas una vez más y expresar la esperanza que el incidente no afecte la futura colaboración.
Para la conclusión puedes emplear las siguientes expresiones:
| Once again, our (my) sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused… |
| I hope that you will accept my apologies (that my apologies will be accepted). |
| I hope that you can forgive (overlook) this regrettable error. |
| Thank you for your understanding. |
| If you would like to continue this conversation, please feel free to call me at… |
| Should you have any questions related to this correspondence, please feel free to contact me at your convenience. |
Acabaremos nuestra carta con la frase final
Sincerely, Sincerely yours,
Name
Modelo de letter of apology
A continuación os dejamos un modelo de carta de disculpa formal para que podáis analizar y identificar las diferentes partes de la misma y para que podáis aplicarlo en las cartas que vais a escribir.
Disturbing neighbors
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson,
You two deserve a real apology from us. Since we moved into our apartment you’ve had to endure a lot of bad behavior on our part. Our frequent parties have not only been loud, but have lasted into the early morning hours. Our guests have left bottles and trash on the parking lot in front of the building. To make matters worse, the trash has sometimes been knocked from our balcony onto yours. Since you live directly under our place our inconsiderate behavior has affected you the most.
You and the other neighbors have complained to us about the partying. The apartment manager has put warning notices on our door as well. As you know, the police have come by several times and lectured us about the noise. We had parties like this at our last apartment and got away with it, so we figured we could get away with it here.
Well, what happened last night was a real eye opener. It was clear that someone at the party dropped a lit cigarette off our balcony. It fell into the landscape mulch around the bushes in front of your apartment. It was horrifying to see how quickly the mulch ignited and the bushes began to burn. Fortunately, we were able to put out the fire without having to call the fire department. We were relieved that no one was injured and the only property damage was to the bushes.
Obviously, we needed to be taught a lesson and this frightening event did the trick. We know we have no right to expect you to forgive us, but we sincerely apologize. We promise to limit our parties to one per month, hold them only on Friday nights and end them by midnight. We will also supervise the behavior of our guests and clean up any trash that results from the parties.
We are going to each apartment in this wing and apologize face-to-face. In addition, Megan and I will go to the manager’s office and offer to pay all costs associated with the bushes.
We hope you are willing to give us another chance to be not just neighbors, but good neighbors.
Sincerely,
John and Megan Stanton
Esta es la tarea para los que quieran practicar (esperemos que seáis muchos).Enviarnos vuestras cartas y nosotros aquí, en WELCIME TO ENGLISH las corregiremos y las enviaremos de vuelta.
Practice as much as you can because PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!
Task 1:
Your neighbours have recently written to you to complain about the noise from your house flat.
Write a letter to your neighbours. In your letter
-explain the reasons for the noise
-apologise
-describe what action you will take
Write at least 140-190 words.
Task 2:
Write a letter to your boss apologising for the recent meeting you missed at work.
-apologise for missing the meeting
-explain what happened
-say what you will do to compensatwe
