Useful phrases for writing letters

Reference:
Thank you for your letter of...
With reference to your letter/invoice...
Further to our telephone conversation yesterday...
Your advertisement / article in... has been brought to our notice / attention...
You may recall that we met...
In the course of the conversation you mentioned that...
You will probably be aware / have heard that...
We were pleased / sorry to learn / hear that...
We note that...
With regard to your request for / query about...
Thank you for pointing out / offering to / drawing our attention to...

Expressing wishes:
We would (very much) like to...
We (particularly)want to...
We (do) hope...
We would prefer not to...
We would rather not...
We are reluctant to...

Requests:
We would be grateful if you would / could...
Would you be so kind as to...
We would appreciate it if you could...
Could you please...
Would you mind... ing...
Please let us know when / how much / if...

Drawing attention and reminding:

We would point out that...
May we draw your attention to...
I'm afraid we must remind you that...
We do not appear to have received...

Expressing urgency and necessity:

...at your earliest convenience.
… as soon as possible.

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… without further delay.
… by return (of post).
We may be obliged to...
We shall be forced to...
It is essential that...

Expressing willingness and offers of help:

We are / would be (quite) willing / prepared to...
Would you like us to...
Would it be of assistance if we...
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with / contact us if we can be any (further) assistance / if you need any
(further information).

Apologizing and expressing regret:

We are sorry (to hear / learn) that...
We apologize most sincerely for...
We (deeply) regret that...
Unfortunately...
I'm afraid...

Standard endings:
Assuring you of our continued attention.
We look forward to hearing from you / seeing you / receiving your reply, etc.

Asking for clarification:

It is not clear wether...
We are not sure if...
It would be of assistance if you could provide us with further details of more information about...
We would be grateful if you could clarify this...

Making suggestions and proposals:

Might / may we suggest that...
One possible solution would be to...
We propose to...
We are planning to...

Asking for approval:

We (sincerely) hope / trust that... will be to your satisfaction / meet with yout approval
We hope / trust that you will have no objections / be agreable to...
Would you have any objection if...?

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Confirmation:
May I confirm the arrangements for / that...
Would you please confirm that...
If we hear nothing from you / nothing to the contrary, we shall assume / take it that...
We shall await your confirmation before going ahead.
(Informal) Please drop us a line if...

Clearing up misunderstandings:
There appears to be some misunderstanding about...
Some misunderstanding seems to have arisen as to...
We are under the impression / given to understand / led to believe that...
We were not aware / did not realise that...

Giving assurance:
We assure you / give you assurance that...
You may rest assured that...
Every endeavour will be made to...
We will do our utmost to ensure that...
You may confidently leave the matter in our / my hands...

Expressing dissatisfaction and complaining:

We regret to have to inform you that...
We are experiencing difficulties in... ing...
We are at a loss to know now / why...
We trust this matter will receive your prompt attention / be dealt with immediately.
… has proved highly unsatisfactory / most unreliable.
… leaves much to be desired / is totally inadequate.

Polite refusals to requests and excuses:

We are (fully) aware of the problems, but unfortunately...
We (fully) appreciate your difficulties / point of view, but...
I'm afraid / Regretfull / We are not in a position to / not able to...
We feel that (at this stage) it would be better / be unwise / not be in our interest to...
We realize this is not ideal, however...

Stalling:
We shall be looking into / reviewing the whole question of... in the near future. (Until then...)
We wish to... before taking any (further) action / proceeding any further... is currently under discussion / being
discussed.
In the meantime / As an interim measure...
… pending a detailed report / clarification.