Чтение и письмо: три версии сообщения (залог и модальность)

THE SITUATION
A small publisher has discovered that the first print run of a cookery book contains an error: in one recipe, «1 teaspoon» of chilli has been printed as «1 tablespoon». Nobody will be harmed, but the dish will be inedible. Three messages must go out today: to the freelance editor who missed the error (a friend of ten years), to the printer (a supplier the publisher has used twice), and to customers who bought the book (strangers, some of whom will be annoyed).

MESSAGE 1 — to the editor
Jo — bad news, and I'm only telling you because you'd want to know before you hear it elsewhere. Page 84, the chilli: tablespoon, not teaspoon. It got past both of us, so this isn't a blame note. We're putting a slip in the remaining stock and emailing the buyers. Would you look at the other chilli recipes today, just in case? I'll owe you a very large drink. — M.

MESSAGE 2 — to the printer
Dear Mr Halvorsen,
I am writing regarding the first print run of «Sunday Kitchen» (order 2291). A typographical error on page 84 was not identified prior to printing, and we now need to insert a correction slip into the 1,400 copies still in your warehouse. I would be grateful if you could let me know the cost and the earliest date by which the slips could be inserted. I should stress that the error originated with us, not with your team. Kind regards, M. Ferreira, Publisher

MESSAGE 3 — to customers
Dear reader,
We owe you a correction. On page 84 of «Sunday Kitchen», the chilli in the harissa recipe should read 1 teaspoon, not 1 tablespoon — an error that was ours, and that we are sorry for. Copies sold from next week will carry a correction slip. If you have already made the recipe and it was inedible, please reply to this email and we will send you a corrected copy at no charge. Everything else in the book is, we promise, as intended. With apologies and thanks, The Sunday Kitchen team

WHAT CHANGES, WHAT DOESN'T
The proposition is identical in all three: page 84, tablespoon for teaspoon, correction slip, whose fault. What changes is distance. To Jo, ellipsis and humour, an explicit refusal to blame, and a request as a favour. To the printer, «regarding», «prior to», an agentless passive for the error («was not identified») — softened, but immediately followed by an active acceptance of responsibility, so the passive spares no one. To customers, plain words, a direct apology in the active voice, and an offer that costs the company something, because an apology without a cost is boilerplate.