the letter of the law• The heart of all this is going beyond the letter of the law with your clients.• Some one who did not feel obliged to follow the letter of the law, or the instructions of the judge.• The agentcounsels them obliquely against waste, repeats the letter of the law, and smiles.• The builders may have adhered to the letter of the law, but not its spirit.• A month afterwards the teams will be sent out to discover whether retailers are sticking to the letter of the law.• By sticking to the letter of the law, the spirit of the law may be lost.• Sticking to the letter of the lawv. sticking to its spirit.
The school sent a letter to all the children’s parents.
学校给所有孩子的父母都发去一封信。
post a letterBritish EnglishBrE, mail a letterAmerican EnglishAmE 寄信
nCould you post this letter for me?
answer a letter/reply to a letter 回信
nI never answered his letter.
open a letter 打开信
nBill opened the letter and read it.
read a letter 读信
nMay I read her letter?
a letter comes/arrives 信寄到
nA letter came for you today.
a letter is addressed to somebody (=has their name and address on the envelope) 信是寄给某人的
nThe letter was addressed to Mr. John Appleby.
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + letter
long/short 长/短
She was thrilled to get a long letter from her son.
她收到儿子寄来的一封长信,异常激动。
formal/informal 正式/非正式
The letter sounded very formal.
这封信读起来非常正式。
a personal letter 私人信件
I don’t want him reading my personal letters.
我不希望他读我的私人信件。
a business letter 商务信函
nIn business letters you often use phrases such as ‘I would be grateful if ...’.
an official letter 公函
nI received an official letter thanking me for my enquiry.
a love letter 情书
nThe book had a copy of a love letter from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn.
a thank-you letter 感谢信
nMum made me write thank-you letters for all my birthday presents.
a covering letterBritish EnglishBrE, a cover letterAmerican EnglishAmE (=that you send with your CV to an employer) 〔连同履历一起寄给雇主的〕附函,说明信
nAlways enclose a cover letter with your resume.
phrases
a letter of thanks/introduction/complaint etc 感谢信/介绍信/投诉信等
I finally got a letter of apology from the company.
最后我收到了公司的一封致歉信。
COMMON ERRORSDon’t say ‘invitation letter’ or ‘complaint letter’. Say letter of invitation or letter of complaint.
不要说 ‘invitation letter’ 或 ‘complaint letter’. 而要说 letter of invitation或 letter of complaint.
Examples from the Corpus
letter• David, who won first prize in the lottery, has received more than 100 letters from charities asking for money.• I got a letter from Anna today.• Blackwell said in a letter last week sent to the Union-Tribune.• In a letterdated May 10th, the US government protested about the use of force in the republics.• Write me a letter and tell me all your news!• Hamlin wrote a letter to the council, complaining about the incident.• By his second year, he said, nearly 30 schools were sending him letters.• Impassioned letters to Onegin: 1.• Two other letters of Anselm during Osbern's disciplinaryexile at Bec complete the story of their first meeting.• Which is the one that has been informed of the letter?• When Shevardnadze produced the letter and handed it to the President, Reagan placed it unopened on the table beside his chair.