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A2 - Writing Email - Structure & Phrases

Formal emails are usually sent to people outside one's company or who are not known personally. Semi-formal emails are appropriate for people one does not know well. Informal emails are common between colleagues. Guidelines are provided for openings and closings based on level of formality, from formal to informal. Contractions and certain vocabulary should be avoided in formal emails.

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Cuong Tran Viet
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936 views1 page

A2 - Writing Email - Structure & Phrases

Formal emails are usually sent to people outside one's company or who are not known personally. Semi-formal emails are appropriate for people one does not know well. Informal emails are common between colleagues. Guidelines are provided for openings and closings based on level of formality, from formal to informal. Contractions and certain vocabulary should be avoided in formal emails.

Uploaded by

Cuong Tran Viet
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Email writing

Formal emails are usually sent


to people the writer doesn’t Formal emails
know or to people outside the Formal emails are similar to letters.
company. Less formal emails are
usually sent to people the writer Writing to someone when you do not know the name:
knows and / or colleagues. If
you are not sure how formal Opening Closing
your email should be, copy the Dear Sir or Madam Yours faithfully (UK)
email style of the person who Dear Sir / Madam Sincerely (US)
wrote to you, or use a semi-
formal style. Writing to someone when you know the name:
The following are some Opening Closing
guidelines on how to start and
end emails with different levels Dear Mr Thomas Regards
of formality, along with some Dear Ms Smith Yours sincerely (UK)
common phrases used in emails. Dear John Thomas Sincerely (US)
Dear Dr Thomas
Contractions
When writing formal emails do not use contractions, such as I’m, didn’t, you’ll, etc.
Formal I am writing to ask for some information.
Informal I’m writing to ask for some information.

Semi-formal emails
Use semi-formal emails with people you do not know very well. Sometimes it is difficult to know
if the email needs to be formal or semi-formal. It is a good idea to copy the email style of the
person who writes to you.

Opening Closing
Dear John Thanks
Dear Olivia Best regards
Yours

Informal emails
In many companies, informal emails are sent between colleagues.

Opening Closing
Hi John Best wishes
Hello Olivia All the best
Hi / Hello Thanks
John John
You can also start an informal email with no
opening at all.

Formal and informal vocabulary


Formal emails use different vocabulary to informal emails.
Formal Informal
Thank you Thanks
I would like to apologize for … Sorry for …
I would appreciate it if you … Can you … ?
Would you happen to know … ? Do you know … ?
Unfortunately, I will not be able to … I can’t …
I would rather not … I don’t want to …

© Oxford University Press 2017 Business Result Second edition Pre-intermediate

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