MODULE 2: EMAIL WRITING

Email is a system of sending written messages electronically from one computer to another. Email is an
abbreviation of ‘electronic mail’. (Collins)
1. INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING AN EMAIL
In this part of the test, you are given an email from an English friend or relative, and you are asked to
respond to it in about 100 words. This email contains annotations which help you identify exactly what
you need to respond to.
As regards the topics, they are usually not very difficult, as you are expected to write at an intermediate
level about topics you are familiar with: sports, hobbies, TV programmes, weather, your town / city, best
friend etc. Here is a sample email:

You must answer this question. Write your answer in about

100 words on the answer sheet.

Read this email from your English-speaking friend Sandy and

the notes you have made.

From: Sandy
Subject: Your visit!

Hi,
Me too I’m so excited that you’re coming to stay with me for a week!

On your first evening here, there’s a rock concert in our town.

Would you like to go to the concert or would you prefer us to relax Say which
at home?
No, I prefer
Because Also, shall we go climbing in the mountains while you’re here?

Let me know if you have any questions. Ask Sandy…

See you soon
Sandy

Write your email to Sandy using all the notes

As you can see in the example above, we have received an email from a person so-called Sandy, who is a
friend of ours. In addition, we have made some annotations, which are the points we need to address in
your email:
 Me too!
 Say which I prefer
 No, because…
 Ask Sandy…
2. EMAIL STRUCTURE
The first thing you need to know is the different parts of an email, and these are:
 Greetings: we greet the other person (i.e. say “hi” or “hello”)
 Opening paragraph: we react to the other person’s news and ask them how they are feeling and
whatever else you feel is appropriate.
 Main paragraph 1: in this paragraph we deal with the first important point, which we can identify
in the instructions.
 Main paragraph 2: if there is a different point to deal with, this paragraph will do so.
(We might have more main paragraphs, depending on the task.)
 Closing paragraph: in this paragraph we “start” to say goodbye by wishing the other person well
and asking them to reply to your email.
 Goodbye: we use a short expression to say goodbye.
 Signature: we sign the email with our name.

3. SAMPLE EMAIL
Let’s take a look at the following example of the email where we can see an answer to the sample task we saw
above:

Greeting Hi Sandy,

Opening p Thanks a lot for writing back. I’m also really excited about visiting you!

On my first evening, I’d like to relax at home. I will probably be very tired
Main p.1 from the trip, so I need to rest and get ready for the other days. Is that okay?

Main p.2 As for climbing, I’m afraid I can’t. I forgot to tell you, but I hurt my knee last
week, so I can’t do sport now.

Main p.3 How about visiting some art galleries in your town? If you want, we could
go. You know I love art! What do you think?

Closing p. Well, I have to go now, but please let me know what you think.

Farewell Take care,

Luis
Signature

In the example above, the different parts of an email are well defined. It’s important that the writing
is visually appealing, apart from having good grammar and vocabulary. This means that the paragraphs
should be well defined, with a space in between, and that you should know when to break lines. This is
especially important after greetings, after opening and closing paragraphs, and after saying goodbye. This
will make your text visually appealing, as it will look like a real email.
4. EXPRESSIONS TO USE IN AN EMAIL
In this section, we are going to focus on different expressions to use in the different parts of the email.
While the main paragraphs will vary completely depending on the topic of the writing, most of the other
parts in the email can be practised and memorized almost completely. Let’s take a look:
4.1. GREETINGS
In order to start the email, we can used different expressions, which are really typical and easy to
remember. We have 3 basic ways to greet in this kind of writing, which is usually for a friend or family
member:
 Hi John,
 Hello John,
 Dear John,
Note: Notice how “Hi” is less formal than “Hello” or “Dear”. Also, don’t forget to write a comma (,)
right after greeting your friend or relative. After greeting the addressee (i.e. the person who will read the
email), you must start the opening paragraph in a new line.
4.2. OPENING PARAGRAPH
The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or relative’s email. In order to do so, you
can use a number of different expressions. Here we have some examples:
 It’s nice / great / good to hear from you.
 It’s nice / great / good to read your email.
 I’m glad to hear your news.
 I’m excited about … (your news.)
 It’s great to hear that…
 I’m sorry to hear that…
 I’m really sorry to read your news.
 Thanks a lot for writing!
 It was good to receive your email.
 Thank you very much for your email.
Also, it’s a good idea to ask your friend or relative how they are feeling, which you can do like this:
 Hope you are doing well.
 How’s it going?
 How are you (doing)?
 How are things (going)?
You can also add some information that you think is relevant or necessary, but don’t expand this paragraph
very much, because the important information must go in the main paragraphs.
4.3. MAIN PARAGRAPHS
For the main paragraphs, there aren’t any fixed expressions which you must use, as it depends mostly on
what you have to write about. However, you should try to make use of connectors and appropriate
punctuation. So let’s take a look at common useful connectors and the punctuation we use them with:
 …and…: to connect two similar things or ideas.
I love reading and listening to music.
My favourite meal is fish and chips.
 …, but…: to connect two contrasting ideas.
I love watching TV, but I don’t have a favourite show.
I am reading a book, but I don’t remember the title.
 However,…: to connect contrasting ideas.
Last month, I went to the cinema. However, I didn’t enjoy the movie.
I am a very big fan of this author. However, I haven’t read his last novel.
 Moreover,…: to add more information about something.
 … because…: to justify an opinion or idea.
 My mum is the perfect cook because she knows a lot of recipes and has plenty of experience.
Moreover, she experiments with different ingredients all the time.
 Because of that,…: to justify an opinion, fact or idea.
My mum likes to cook using new ingredients all the time. Because of that, she creates original dishes
every month.
 As for…/ Regarding…: to switch to a new topic. For instance, you can use this connector to start
the second main paragraph.
As for/Regarding why I like this cookery show, I think because it’s a great way to see new recipes.
 Time linkers: then, after that, yesterday, this morning, last summer, etc.
Last night, I watched a very good action film.
With many connectors, we typically use a comma (,) after it when we start a sentence (e.g.: However,
Last night, Moreover, etc.).
4.4. CLOSING PARAGRAPH
As we mentioned earlier, a closing paragraph in this Writing part 3 is used to start saying goodbye to the
addressee and to ask for a response to your email. So we can use the following expressions:
 Well, it’s time to say goodbye.
 Anyway, I have to go now.
 Well, it’s time to go.
 Anyway, gotta go.
 I really hope to hear from you soon.
 I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
 I hope you write back soon.
 Make sure you write back soon.
Also, if you still have to write more words, you can add a question for a subsequent email. This question
should be related to the topic of your piece of writing.
4.5. SAYING GOODBYE
There are many ways in English to close an informal email. The most frequent used ones are the following:
 Best wishes,
 Best,
 Sincerely,
 Take care,
 All my love,
 Love,
 Lots of love,
 See you soon,
 Regards,
Notice how there is a comma (,) after each of the phrases. Also, after writing any of these sentences,
make sure you write your name on a different line. And write your name without a full stop!
WRITING PRACTICE
Now that we know what expressions we should be using in our writing, we are going to take a look at
another task and then practice your writing:
Read this email from your English-speaking college classmate Alex and the notes you have made. Write
your email to Alex using all the notes.
From: Alex
Subject: College science presentation
Hi,
It’s great that we are going to work together on the college science presentation. Do you think we
should choose the rainforest as our topic?
No, but…
We only have two weeks to prepare, so can we start tomorrow? Where can we go to prepare the
presentation? My cousins are staying at my house at the moment, so we can’t work there because it’s
too noisy.
Sorry… Suggest…
We can give our presentation to the class either in the morning or the afternoon. Which would you
prefer?
Let me know
Tell Alex
Alex
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Sample answer:
Hi, Alex
I’m very glad to work with you. I think we shouldn’t choose the rainforest as our topic because I’m
not good at this topic. I would like to prepare the science presentation about deserts. In my opinion, it
will be interesting.
Sorry, but my parents have gone to another town and I must look after my little brother so we can’t
start to prepare tomorrow. What about starting in 2 days?
We can prepare the presentation in my house because no one will disturb us.
I would prefer to give our presentation to the class in the afternoon as this is the most convenient time.
Best wishes
Grette
FURTHER PRACTICE
Read this email from your English teacher Miss Jones and the notes you have made. Write your email
to Miss Jones using all the notes.

From: Miss Jones

To: All students
Subject: Visitor to English class
Dear students,
I’m planning to invite a well-known person to come into our English
class and give a talk.
I’d like to invite either a scientist or an actor. Which would be better?
I hope that each student will have a question to ask this person – what
would you like to ask?
We want our visitor to enjoy the day with us – what do you think we
can do to entertain the visitor after the talk?
I’m looking forward to receiving your ideas!
Miss Jones

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………