UnitXI

Posting a Letter in USA

The American Post office is one of the few nationalized concerns in the USA . Unlike in
Britain, where the smaller post offices double as newsagents, tobacconists and confectioners,
American post offices are just post offices.
Stamps can be bought at post offices but not only there. They can also be bought elswhere,
particularly from vending machines in places like hotels and supermarkets, though you
usually have to pay a little extra in this case.
Obviously enough, you can post things at post offices and in street-side post boxes. Post
boxes can be hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for. They tend to be on street
corners; they are blue, and they look like litter bins. If you see a blue litter bin, it is probably
actually a mail box. If you are over 5 feet tall, you will not be able to see how to get your
letters into the mail box, unless you bend down and look. There is, in fact, a flap with a handle
that you pull back to reveal a space into which you drop your post, but this handle is obscured
from view by the top of the box. There are also drive-up mail boxes outside post offices and
elsewhere, so that you can post letters without leaving your car.
If you are staying in an American house, you may find that it is possible to post
letters without going out: the postman will pick up letters left in your mailbox for mailing at
the same time as he delivers your post. Many houses have mail boxes by the roadside, so that
the postman does not have to come up the drive.
There is often in such cases a flag (a metal arm) on the box, which can be raised to show
that you have post to be picked up, so the postman will check your box even if he has nothing
to deliver. Apartement blocks, too, frequently have rows of mail boxes in their entrance halls,
so that the postman does not have to deliver mail individually to each flat, and mail for
posting will often be picked up from these areas.It will be useful to notice that in most places
there is only one mail delivery per week-day, and this may come as late as mid-afternoon.
Registered mail is available in America as well as in Europe.It is also possible when sending
mail to ask for a certificate of delivery, which is something like recorded delivery, but you
actually receive through the mail confirmation that your letter or packet has been delivered.
(taken and adapted from Coping with America by Peter Trudgill)
Questions:
1. Why do we say that American post offices are just post offices?
2. Where can stamps be bought in USA?
3. Where do Americans usually post their letters?
4. How do post boxes look like?
5. What trouble might you have if you are a very tall person?
6. What are drive-up mail boxes?
7. How is it possible to post letters without going out?
8. What is a flag?
9. Why doesnt the postman have to come up the drive?
10. How often does the postman deliver mail?
11.Where are mail boxes placed in apartement blocks?
12.What do you know about registered mail?

Join the following conditionals to make sense:

if you dont know what you are looking for

it is probably a
mail box
..you will not be able to see how to get your letters .. . if you see a blue
into the mail box
litter bin
..post boxes can be hard to spot

..if you are over 5

feet tall

..even if he has nothing to deliver .you may find out that it is possible
to post a letter without going out
..if you are staying in an American house ..the postman will check
your mail box

False or true (F/T)

The American Post office is run by the private company.________
British post offices double as newsagents,tobacconists and confectioners._______
Stamps can be bought at post offices only._________
Stamps are the most expensive when bought at post offices. _________
Post boxes in USA are red. __________
Post boxes look like litter bins. __________
It is not possible to post letters without going out. _________
It is possible to post letters without leaving your car. _________
A flag on the box means that you have post to be picked up. ________
Complete the following Conditionals with your own ideas:
1. If you want to post a letter in USA __________________________________
2. What will you do ________________________________________________
3. If you want to buy stamps from vending machines ______________________
________________________
4. If you had raised a flag _________________________________________
5. If you want to send a registered mail _________________________________

Look at the situations described bellow. For each one write a sentence using if
1. Road travel is cheaper than rail travel in England. As a result they have lots of traffic jams.
________________________________________________________________
2.Cutting down rainforests has caused many unique plants and animals to become extinct.
______________________________________________________________

3. Many people didnt realise that smoking was dangerous when they were young. Now they
are middle-aged and they are having serious health problems.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. Hardly anyone was concerned about pollution in the 1960s. The first motorways were built
then.
_____________________________________________________________
5. People dont realise how important it is to conserve energy, so they do nothing about it.

Write down a word which means the following:

A public box in which mail is posted is called _______________ or __________
A seller or a shop selling newspapers is called ____________________
Private road through garden or park to a house is called _________________
A place where letters, parcels etc. are dealt with is called ________________
A maker or retailer of sweets is called __________________
Refuse especially paper, discarded in a public place is called _______________

Fill in the missing preposition or a part of phrasal verbs:

1.Stamps can be bought ___________ vending machines _____________ places
like hotels and supermarkets.
2.Post boxes can be hard to spot if you dont know what youre looking ______
3.If you are staying _______ an American family, you may find it possible
to post letters without going ________: the postman will pick __________
letters left ________ your mail box ________ mailing _______ the same time as
he delivers your post.
4. You can post things _________ post offices and ___________ street-side
post boxes.