Contract

1. Unit 7 Contract

2. Once a transaction is concluded, the two parties are bound by the contract, which is a generally formal written document and is signed by both parties.

3. Pre-reading Activities Studying Aim Questions & Answers By the end of this unit , you should be able to … Assignment Text Analysis Appreciation of a letter; Writing. Language points Main points in letters

4. PartⅠ Pre-reading Activities (Questions & Answers) 1.What is a contract? A contract is an agreement or promise between two parties, say the seller and the buyer in foreign business trade.

5. 2.Please list forms of contract. • Generally, there are following forms: • Sales Contract / Purchase Contract (It’s formal, including special clauses, say, Force Majeure, Claims and Arbitration); • Sales Confirmation (It’s relatively informal, more concise, without the above stipulations); • Agreement; • Memorandum (memo) (It’s generally legal • when there are two parties’ signature and • detailed stipulations);

6. 3. What does a formal business contract include? • It usually consists of three parts: • The heading, which contains two parties’ names and detailed address; • The body, which is the most important part, includes all the main clauses, reflecting duties and obligations of both parties; • The ending, which is including two parties’ signatures and date.

7. 4. What are conditions for contracts? There are following conditions: • An offer must be made; • Acceptance of the offer must be voluntary; • both parties must be competent; 4) Two parties must give consideration, that is to say, they will gain benefits from the transaction; 5) The contract must be legal (The law will not enforce a promise that involves an illegal act); 6) The contract must be in proper form.

8. PartⅡ Studying Aim By the end of this unit, you should be able to: 1. Know main points in this kind of letter and write a letter to sending a contract; 2. Grasp the main points in the specimen letters.

9. 3. Master key language points and difficult Sentences; 4. Know how to write a counter-signature to the Specimen 1;

10. PartⅢ Text Analysis Specimen 1 & 2 Contract Specimen 1 Sending Contract Dear Sirs, With reference to the E-mails exchanged between us, we are pleased to confirm having concluded with you a transaction of 30 metric tons of groundnut kernels. Enclosed you will find our Sales Contract No.354 in duplicate of which please countersign and return one copy to us for our file.

11. Please open the relative L/C at an early date, so that we can arrange the shipment as soon as possible. Looking forward to your immediate reply. Yours sincerely,

12. Specimen 2 Counter-signature Dear Sirs, We have duly received your Sales Contract No.354 for 30 metric tons groundnut kernels in duplicate. As requested, we return herewith one copy completed with our counter-signature. We have already established with the Bank of China, London the relative L/C, which we believe will reach you

13. soon. Upon receipt, please arrange shipment and advise us of the name of steamer and date of sailing immediately. Yours faithfully,

14. Step1: Main points in specimen 1-2 • After your reading the above two letters, please answer the following questions: • What is the purpose of the first specimen? • — It’s mainly to sending contract.

15. 2. What are main points in Specimen 1? Main points in it: Opening: a. confirmation of the business; Body: b. sending of the sales contract; c. the main clauses of the contract, reflecting duties and obligations of both parties (commodity, quality, specifications, quantity, price, packing, shipment and payment, etc.); Closing: d. expectation of the counter-signature.

16. 3. What are main points in Specimen 2? Main points are: Opening: a. receipt of the incoming letter and the Sales Contract; Body: b. returning it with the counter-signature; c. referring to the establishment of L/C Closing: d. expectation of earlier shipment

17. Step2: Details of Specimen 1&2 Language points 1. conclude: close, come to, reach, realize eg: There is a possibility to conclude the business. 2.transaction: business, deal eg: We will conclude the transaction with you, if you reduce the price to our level.

18. 3. in duplicate: in two copies, in two originals in triplicate, in quadruplicate, in quintuplicate 4. arrange: plan or prepare for eg: We will arrange for your goods to be shipped on s.s. “Peace” sailing at the beginning of next month. 5. duly: in due course, in time eg: A bill was received and duly paid.

19. 5. as requested:according to the request eg: As requested, we have amended the L/C. 6. advise:inform, notify eg: We advised you in our letter of Dec. 1 that we would like to place a trial order with you for 500 Flying Pigeon brand bike.

20. Difficult Sentences 1. Enclosed you will find our Sales Contract No. 354…for our file. (Para 1 in Specimen 1): We have enclosed the contract and ask for your counter-signature for our record.

21. 2. We have already established … will reach you soon. (Para 1 in Specimen 2): The L/C has been issued and you will receive it quickly.

22. PartⅣ Assignment 1. Supplementary reading: Dear Sirs, We have great pleasure to enclosing copies of faxes exchanged between us resulting in the conclusion of business for 500 Five-Ram bicycles.

23. We enclose our sales confirmation No.850 in duplicate. Please sign the bottom copy and return it to us for our files. We look forward to receiving your future enquiries and orders. Yours faithfully,

24. Assume you received a Sales Contract, then please write a • counter-signature letter to it.

25. Thank you!