Unit XIV

British and American Postal Services

The British postal service delivers mail twice a day Monday through Friday in urban
areas, at least once per weekday everywhere else, and once on Saturdays.
A first class letter should reach its destination in England the next day if posted
early. Second class mail takes two or three days to get to most areas of the country.
For urgent deliveries, services such as Red Star and Datapost are available.
In America, in most places there is only one delivery per week-day, and this may
come as late as mid-afternoon.
Americans normally put a return address on the outside of envelopes, in the top lefthand corner, when posting letters. If you hand over lettres for posting at a post office,
you may be told to do the same.
All American addresses include five-figure zip codes, which operate rather like
British and Canadian postal codes but refer not to individual postman's walks but to
towns or sections of large cities. Mail posted without a zip code will still arrive, but
the zip code is said to speed things up. The codes go numerically, very roughly, from
east to west, with the numbers in the Northeast beginning with 0 and those in
California beginning with 9. In many areas, four extra digits are currently being added
to zip codes to give postmen more detailed information as to where an address is, and
make it harder for everyone else to remember.
When addressing a letter to someone in England, it is very important to include the
terms Street, Avenue, Road, etc., since there are often several places with similar
names in a town. For example, in London there are Cannon Close, Cannon Hill,
Cannon Lane, Cannon Place, Cannon Road, Cannon Row, Cannon Street, and,
believe it or not, Cannon Street Road. A house may go by a name (like The Rectory
or Rose Cottage) and not have a street number.
You should include the county name in the address, although large cities and towns
do not need one, and you should always include the postcode. Postcode consists of a
combination of five to seven letters and digits divided into two groups; the second
group always has one digit followed by two letters.
The codes indicate the town, sector, and even the individual postman's beat, which
means that there can be hundreds of postcodes for some towns. Codes for London
begin with letters that indicate which geographical section of the city the address is
located in (e.g.,SW means southwest, EC means east central). Main post offices and
reference libraries have post-code directories available.
Questions:
1. How often is mail delivered in England?
2. How long does it take the first class mail to reach its destination?
3. What about second class mail?
4. What are Red Star and Datapost?
5. What is the situation like in America?
6. What do Americans usually put on envelopes, when posting letters?
7. What do American zip-codes refer to ?
8. What is so special about the addresses in England?
9. What does a postcode consist of?
10. What do the codes indicate?
11. What does EC in front of a code fro London mean?
12. Where can we find post-code directories?

Shift from Passive into Passive:

Mail is delivered twice a day by the British postal service.
__________________________________________________________________
A return address is normally put on the envelopes by Americans.
__________________________________________________________________
You may be told to do the same.
_____________________________
Zip code is said to speed things up.
_____________________________
In many areas, four extra digits are currently being added to zip codes.
_________________________________________________________

False or True (F/T)

British postal service delivers mail once a day. ____________
Second class mail takes one day to get to most areas. __________
Mail posted without zipcodes will never reach its destination. ________
Four extra digits are currently being added to zip codes to give postman
information. _________
In England a house may go by a name and not have a street number._______
SW in front of town means somewhere. ___________
The codes indicate the town, the sector, and even the individual postman's
beat._______

Most of the following sentences contain one mistake.Correct it or write right

She said that all american addresses include five-figure zip-codes.
___________________________________________________________
We were disappointed when the receptionist told that the hotel was fully booked .
________________________________________________________________
The tour guide explained that the castle is only open on Tuesdays.
_____________________________________________________
The postman's beat means that there can hundreds of postcodes for some towns.

________________________________________________________________
When I asked Joan about her work she said she had lost her job and is short of money.
_____________________________________________________________________
The museum guard asked the visitors to not touch the exhibits.

Complete the following sentences with the prepositions of time (during,by, until, at,
on, in)
We usually finish work early _________ Fridays.
She wrote this article __________ her holiday.
He won't hand over the parcel ____________
The children are not here _________ the moment, but they'll be back _________ a
few minutes.
I want to be at the stadium early so that we're __________ time to get good seats.
Please don't touch anything __________ the police arrive.
I should be free by 3 p.m. If the meeting doesn't end __________ time, I shall have to
make my apologies and leave.
She was reluctant to help us at first, but _______ the end she agreed to do what she
could.
I'm not sure whether it'll be Thursday or Friday, but I'll definitely be back
___________the weekend.
Will you finish work ___________ time to do the shopping?
We always used to have a party __________ the end of term.
I'd like to hold next meeting ____________ 23rd March. Will that suit you?