[سيد إسماعيل]

مناقشة مع أستاذة لغة أمريكية عن بعض التعبيرات
باستخدام message و letter

Sayed :

would you please tell me which of the following
expressions is correct and which is wrong?

** please tell me why ???

1) a letter of thanks / a message of thanks.

2) thanks letter / thanks message .

3) letter for thanking / message for thanking.

4) thanking letter / thanking message

Rachel :

Only the first is correct, Sayed. It's the only correct phrase. The others are not idiomatic. Although the others are formed logically, using familiar English grammar patterns, they just are not part of our language.

Another way -- and the most usuual way to say what you want to say is this:
· a thank-you letter
or
· a thank-you note


Sayed :

I know and agree wth you that the first expression is
correct. So, I wanted to be sure of the other
expessions. But after your kind answer, I want
to be sure whether the others are gramatically
correct or not?
For me , I think No.2 may be correct too as the
first name ( thanks ) works as an adjective to
the second name ( letter/ message).
But No. 3 and 4 are not acceptable to me although I can not give correct explanation ,
why they are not acceptable?
So, I'm asking for your kind help /explanation.

Rachel :

You are correct in your logic, Sayed. However, as I mentioned in my last posting, this is an example in which the logic and usual construction of English compounds does not work.

We might invent 'thank message' or 'thanks message' very wisely, but this expression is just not used.

By custom, 'letter of thanks' and 'thank-you note' are common.

As for C) and D), these constructions might be used with other words, but not for the expression we are discussing.

I can't give you a more detailed explanation that this, Sayed. The phrases I mention are the ones that are used, regardless of the logic of the other constructions


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