Базовый курс английского языка - Эккерсли К.Э.
ISBN 5-7871-0174-X
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Now that Jan and Frieda are engaged, Jan has had a notice put in The Times.
FORTHCOMING MARRIAGES Mr. J. Solski and Miss F. Lang The engagement is announced, and the marriage will take place shortly, between Jan, only son of the late Dr. and Mrs. Solski of Poland, and Frieda, eldest daughter of Professor and Mrs. Lang of Oakwood, 25 The Parks, Oxbridge.
Then about a fortnight before the wedding Professor and Mrs. Lang will send out invitations to the wedding. The one that Mr. and Mrs. Priestley received is shown below. Notice that the invitation is not in the first person, i.e., not "We should like you to come...", but in the third person, "Professor and Mrs. Lang request the company of...". So it will read something like this;
Professor and Mrs. Lang request the pleasure of the company of Mr. and Mrs. Priestley on the occasion of the marriage of their daughter Frieda to
Mr. Jan Solski at St. Peter's Church, Oxbridge, on Saturday; 2nd September, at 2.30p.m. and to the reception afterwards at the Royal Hotel.
25 The Parks, R.S.V.P.
Oxbridge.
' См. Книга II, с. 213-214
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A formal invitation requires a formal reply also in the third person. Mr. and Mrs. Priestley's reply was:
Mr. and Mrs. Priestley have much pleasure in accepting Professor and Mrs. Lang's invitation to the wedding of their daughter on 2nd September.
There is, as you see, no greeting ("Dear Professor and Mrs. Lang") and no "Complimentary close" ("Yours sincerely", etc.).
If the persons invited are not able to attend the wedding they may send a formal refusal, e.g.
Dr. Theophilus Hobdell thanks Professor and Mrs. Lang for their invitation to their daughter's wedding, but much regrets that as he has to conduct an examination of Third-Year students at his College on that date,1 he is unable to accept.
If an invitation from a friend or acquaintance is being refused, a reason should always be given. With a completely impersonal invitation a reason is unnecessary, e.g.
Invitation (Formal)
[ER]
The Lord Chamberlain is commanded by Her Majesty to invite Mr. and Mrs. Priestley to an afternoon Party in the Garden of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the 14th July 19-from 4 to 6 o'clock p.m.
Morning Dress or Uniform or Lounge Suit.
Acceptance (Согласие)
Mr. and Mrs. Priestley have much pleasure in accepting the invitation to the afternoon party in the Garden of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the 14th July 19-
Refusal (Отказ)
Mr. and Mrs. Priestley regret that they will not be able to be present at the afternoon party in the Garden of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the 14th July 19-
1 Другие возможные причины отказа: "owing to a previous engagement...", "as business matters necessitate his absence from the district", "as he will be away on holiday...", etc.
511 ¦
If the invitation is from a close friend, and you are refusing it, it would be preferable to write a personal letter (i.e. not in the third person).
You will note, by the way, that the order of names in the invitation, on a letter and on the envelope, is:
"Mr. and Mrs. Priestley" or "Mr. and Mrs. Charles Priestley"
This is one of the occasions when the rule "ladies first" does not apply. Note, too, that before titles like Professor, Dr., Captain, etc., we do not write Mr.
Formal invitations are generally used only for the larger, more elaborate social happenings, a wedding, a banquet, an important reception. A formal invitation should always include husband and wife in the case of married couples; you never invite the husband without the wife or vice versa1 unless it is a purely male function or an afternoon tea-party for women only.
There are, of course, other ways of giving invitations besides the formal ones, e.g.
Dear Mrs. Brown,
Richard and I would be very pleased if you and your husband could join us for dinner on Thursday, Jan. 9th at 7.30 p.m. A friend of ours, Mr. John Chapman, will be with us. He is going out to Uganda shortly and would very much like to hear of your experiences there.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Ridgewell.
Acceptance
Dear Mrs. Ridgewell,
Thank you veiy much for your kind invitation to dinner on Thursday, Jan. 9th. Both my husband and I accept with great pleasure, and Jack will bring along some colour photographs which he took in Uganda. We look forward to meeting Mr. Chapman.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Brown.
' vice versa ['vaisi 'v3:saj (Latin)-put the other way round; in this case ="... or the wife without the husband".
¦512
Refusal
Dear Mrs. Ridgewell,
Thank you so much for your kind invitation to dinner on Thursday, Jan. 9th. Unfortunately, Jack is away on business in Edinburgh and will not be returning until Saturday and so we are unable to accept. I am sure he will be as sorry as I am to miss the pleasure of dining with you and meeting Mr. Chapman.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Brown.
With close friends the letters would be even more informal, e.g. My dear Jack,
We are having a bit of a party next Wednesday, the 6th, and 1 hope you and Ann are free on that evening and can come and join us, say about eight o'clock. There'll be about a dozen of us-all people that you know. I do hope you can manage it.
