letter to check for usage and grammar mistakes

Re: letter to check for usage and grammar mistakes
Welcome to a2k, pcartier. I have a few corrections below. Good luck with your exam!


Hello

I'm a non-native speaker student preparing for Cambridge CAE exam. I don't have any tutor to check my written English as I am doing self-study. Could anyone please check the following letter and point out any mistakes? Thank you so much.

Paul

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Dear Sir

I am writing in response to a restaurant review by Mike Champion which appeared in your newspaper yesterday.

Unfortunately, the critic does not seem have a full understanding of how a French restaurant operates or what Perigord cuisine is. And apparently he does not read the promotional materials properly as he complained about having to pay for the drinks. It said explicitly on the advertisement that the drinks are free only if you go to the bar between (delete the word "and" here) 7 and 8 in the evening but you will have to pay for them before or after that happy hour (use "or" instead of "and" here) if you order them with the meal.

The food served at the Cafe Perigord is the most authentic Perigord (typo) cuisine I have ever tasted outside France, yet Mr Champion claimed them to be 'un-French'. The quality of the food can no doubt be contributed to the chef, Marc Debois, who was born and raised in the heart of (add the word "the" here) Perigord region and (use "has" instead of "have" here) worked at several five-star restaurants in France and Germany.

If you are a regular patron at a French restaurant, you might know that the service is usually slower than in a normal European restaurant since the preparation is more complex and the cooking methods different. So please remind Mr Champion that when he goes to a French restaurant next time, he should expect to wait from 30 to 45 minutes (use "until" instead of "when" here) the food ordered (use "has" instead of "is" here) arrived.

And the claim that the owner did not turn up to welcome the guests was certainly false as I personally saw David Vaylet (use "greet" instead of "greeted" here) the guests at every (use the singular "table" instead of "tables" here). He even came twice to my table!

I hope that his next review will be more objective than his review last week (I thought it was yesterday?) so people do not have the wrong ideas about perfectly good restaurants.

Yours truly

Paul

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i have one additional suggestion: change "which" to "that" in your first sentence because it starts a restrictive clause (or insert a comma before which, but i think "that" is more correct in this case):

I am writing in response to a restaurant review by Mike Champion that appeared in your newspaper yesterday.

overall, i think your letter is well written.

Yitwail,

The notion that only 'that' can be used for restrictive clauses is an old canard, a prescription that was never, ever true about language. Both 'which' and 'that' are used for restrictive clauses, though admittedly with differing frequencies for different registers.

JTT, that's fascinating! but as for me, i'd have to first check with the APA guidelines before changing my practice. :wink:

Language would be in big trouble if we were to follow the advice of style manuals, Yitwail.

Dear pcartier,

It is my opinion that there are other errors, as follows.

«The food served at the Cafe Perigord is the most authentic Perigord (typo) cuisine I have ever tasted outside France, yet Mr Champion claimed them to be 'un-French'.»

You must say «yet Mr Champion claimed that it was un-French». Food is not plural.

«The quality of the food can no doubt be contributed to the chef,»

You must say «attributed to the chef».

«So please remind Mr Champion that when he goes to a French restaurant next time, he should expect to wait from 30 to 45 minutes until the food ordered has arrived. »

It is not quite correct. You may say «he should expect to wait 30 to 45 minutes for the food to arrive».

It is also my opinion that «Périgord» requires an acute accent. But it is perhaps not essential.

Kindest regards,

Goldmund

Good points there, Goldmund. I definitely missed a few.

corrections
Dear Mac11, yitwail, JTT and Goldmund,

Thank you so much… all of you have been of great help… ... I really appreciate all your comments and corrections… I will work on another letter this week and post it again soon… I hope I'll make fewer mistakes on that … :wink: