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English Intermediate Unit 1

This document provides guidance on writing formal and informal emails for business purposes. It discusses key differences in features, provides examples of informal and formal phrases, and has exercises for matching phrases and rewriting emails to change between informal and formal styles. Students are prompted to write sample formal and informal emails responding to different situations. Overall, the document aims to help students appropriately select language for formal or informal business emails.

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Ale G
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58 views19 pages

English Intermediate Unit 1

This document provides guidance on writing formal and informal emails for business purposes. It discusses key differences in features, provides examples of informal and formal phrases, and has exercises for matching phrases and rewriting emails to change between informal and formal styles. Students are prompted to write sample formal and informal emails responding to different situations. Overall, the document aims to help students appropriately select language for formal or informal business emails.

Uploaded by

Ale G
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT 1

WORKING LIFE &


NETWORKING
E-MAIL WRITING

✓ Formal and informal


emails
FORMAL OR INFORMAL?

1) Watch the following video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdKYl8Tg_FQ&ab_channel=BBCLearningEnglish

1. What 4 features does the speaker mention?


2. Compare them with formal features.

INFORMAL FORMAL

2) Match the informal phrases (1-15) with the formal/neutral phrases (a-o).

1. What do you need? a. With regard to (or With reference to)


2. Thanks for the email of 12 Feb. b. I can assure you that…
3. Sorry, I can´t make it. c. We note from our records that you have
4. I´m sorry to tell you that… not…
5. I promise… d. Please let us know your requirements.
6. Could you…? e. I was wondering if you could…
7. You haven´t… f. We would like to remind you that…
8. Don´t forget… g. I look forward to meeting you next week.
9. I need to … h. Thank you for your email received 12
10. Shall I …? February.
11. But…/Also…/So… i. I am afraid I will not be able to attend.
12. Pls could you…? j. Would you like me to..?
13. I´m sorry for… k. I would be grateful if you could…
14. Re… l. Please accept our apologies for…
15. See you next week. m. It is necessary for me to…
n. We regret to advise you that…
o. However…/In addition…/Therefore…

Taken from BBC Learning English, Email English, by Paul Emmerson, and Macmillan Business.
With business emails you can mix the styles to some extent, but don´t mix styles at the two extremes.

3) Rewrite the emails below by substituting the phrases in italics with more informal ones.

I am afraid I will not be able to attend the meeting on Friday. As I will miss the meeting, I was wondering if you
could send me a copy of the minutes? I will write to Anita as well, to inform her that I will not be there. Once again,
please accept my apologies for this, and I can assure you that I will be at the next meeting.

Thank you for your email of 25 January where you requested assistance on how to order on-line. It is necessary for
me to know you’re a/c number before I can deal with this. I would be grateful if you could also provide details of
which version of Windows you are using.

4) You are going to write two emails on a similar topic, the first formal/neutral and the second
informal.

EMAIL 1

Write to a customer to tell them that the product/service they want is not available at the moment.
Prepare the situation using the questions below. The information can be real or imaginary.

• What is your company’s business? What products/services do you offer?


• What is the particular product/service that you normally offer, but is not available at the
moment?
• Why?
• When is it going to be available again?
• Who is the customer that you are writing to? Why do they need your product/service?
• Are you going to promise any action, give additional information, offer help, or simply say

Taken from BBC Learning English, Email English, by Paul Emmerson, and Macmillan Business.
that you will tell them when the product/service is available again?

Now write the email in a formal/neutral style.

EMAIL 2

Write to a friend to tell them that you haven’t got something they want from you.
Prepare the situation using the questions below. The information can be real or imaginary.
• Who is your friend?
• What item do they want from you?
Ideas: they want to borrow a book that you have; they want you to make a copy of a programme
that you have.
• Why are you not able to give them this item at the moment?
• When can you give them the item?
• Are you going to promise any action, give additional information, offer help, or simply say that you will
tell them when you can give them the item?

Now write the email in an informal style.

Now, watch Email in Real Life:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTgYHHKs0Zw&ab_channel=TrippandTyler

Taken from BBC Learning English, Email English, by Paul Emmerson, and Macmillan Business.

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