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This document provides guidance on writing formal and informal emails to someone you don't know by discussing starting and ending phrases. It explains that formal emails are used when contacting someone professionally or that you don't know well, while informal emails are for friends and colleagues. Examples of formal and informal contexts are given. The document also outlines layout conventions like using a comma after the greeting and name and starting the signature on a new line. Finally, it lists common formal and informal starting and ending phrases to use in emails.

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104 views1 page

Learnenglish Subscription: Self-Access Courses For Professionals

This document provides guidance on writing formal and informal emails to someone you don't know by discussing starting and ending phrases. It explains that formal emails are used when contacting someone professionally or that you don't know well, while informal emails are for friends and colleagues. Examples of formal and informal contexts are given. The document also outlines layout conventions like using a comma after the greeting and name and starting the signature on a new line. Finally, it lists common formal and informal starting and ending phrases to use in emails.

Uploaded by

carreteroaguado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Unit 4: Starting and finishing emails

LearnEnglish Subscription: self-access courses for professionals


How should you begin and finish an email message to someone you don't know? Find out here!

Starting and finishing emails


Here are some important points to consider when starting and finishing an email.
Formal or informal?
We write a formal email when we want to be polite, or when we do not know the reader very well. A lot of work emails are
formal. We write informal emails when we want to be friendly, or when we know the reader well. A lot of social emails are
informal. Here are some examples of formal and informal messages:
Formal Informal
An email to a customer A birthday greeting to a colleague
A job application An email to a colleague who is also a good friend
An email to your manager A social invitation to a friend at your workplace
A complaint to a shop An email with a link to a funny YouTube clip
An email from one company to another company A message to a friend on a social networking site
Before you start writing an email, decide if you want to write a formal email or an informal one.
Layout and punctuation
Starting an email: We normally write a comma after the opening phrase. We start a new line after the name of the person
we’re writing to.
Finishing an email: We normally write a comma after the closing phrase. We start a new line to write our name at the end.
Formal Informal
Dear Mr Piper, Hi Tim,
I am writing to thank you for all your help. Many thanks for your help.
I look forward to seeing you next week. See you next week.
With best wishes, Cheers,
John Smith John
Phrases for starting and finishing
Here are some phrases which we use for starting and finishing emails. We use these in formal and informal emails:
Dear Tim,
Starting phrases
Good morning Tim,
Regards,
Ending phrases With best wishes,
With many thanks and best wishes,
You also need to know which phrases to use only in a formal email or an informal one:
Formal Informal
Hi Tim,
Dear Mr Piper, Hi there Tim,
Starting phrases
Dear Sir or Madam, Morning/Afternoon/Evening Tim,
Hello again Tim,
Rgds,
Yours sincerely,
Cheers,
Ending phrases Yours faithfully,
Bye for now,
Yours truly,
See you soon,

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