surface mail
surface mail — noun
1. a mail service that carries letters and parcels over land and water routes rathe
a mail service that carries letters and parcels over land and water routes rather than by aircraft, or the post itself sent this way
Jude sent the holiday gifts by surface mail to save money.
by surface mail — preposition pattern for transport method
The package from Tokyo took eight weeks to arrive by surface mail.
Dewi chose surface mail for the heavy box of books to Canada.
Hui sent the cookbooks by surface mail — airmail would have cost twice as much.
Kian's birthday card arrived late because his aunt used surface mail.
- ground mail
refers only to land transport; surface mail also includes sea routes
- airmail
mail carried by aircraft, which is faster but more expensive
文法句型
by surface mail
send something (by) surface mail
用法筆記
Almost always uncountable; most commonly appears after 'by' (by surface mail). The phrase refers to the service itself, so 'by surface mail service' sounds unnatural.