Language, Style & Genre

B:
Joe James,
We met six weeks ago, when you visited to order some books. You were dissatisfied that we didn’t have that big an inventory. We sincerely hope all your questions were answered.
One of the books you ordered has arrived. It is the book “Techniques in Teaching Writing” by Anne Raimes. The price has unfortunately gone up. We told you it would cost £8.30, but they’ve put it up to £11.75.
The book will be waiting for you the next two weeks and if you don’t retrieve it by then, we have to send it back. We would prefer if you retrieve it before the deadline, since you ordered the book.

We’ll be looking forward to see you again.

Best regards,
Sandra
A:
The language is very common. The woman writing the business related letter writes as if she was talking face to face with the costumer. There is a lot of exclamation marks and question marks, even though she is just informing the client that the book he ordered has arrived.

Apollo Hotel Apartments
Grivas Dighenis Ave
Larnaca
CYPRUS

Wednesday, May 17th, 2007

Mrs Jenny Hargreaves
3, Birch Avenue
Salisbury
Wilts SB4 3RW
ENGLAND

Dear Mrs Hargreaves,
This is to inform you that my husband, James, and I have arrived without incident at our destination, Larnaca in Cyprus. The average maximum daily temperature at present is 28°Celsius, and the average sea temperature is 18°. We therefore spend a considerable amount of time each day at the beach, where we swim and lie in the sun.
We judge the food served in restaurants here to be of a high standard, especially with respect to flavour, and also to be relatively inexpensive. Consequently, we dine out frequently, despite the fact that our apartment has cooking facilities. I regret that James usually becomes slightly inebriated at meals, being unable to resist over-indulgence in the low-priced local wines and spirits.
Yours sincerely,
F G Finchley
Freda G Finchley (Mrs)

C:
The style is very formal and unpersonal. Normally when you send a postcard home, it’s more informal, personal and “jokey”. When describing the environment, she uses words like “Cooking facilities” and “Inebriated” Which average people wouldn’t normally use.