BUSINESS ENGLISH 2:
PROFESSIONAL WRITING
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF WRITING EMAILS
YOU WRITE AN EMAIL TO REACH A GOAL
Reach your goal!
What’s the goal of writing a formal email?
What’s your goal?
What do you need?
Email writing it is often your first point of contact in business and can make or break a project, an idea, an
opportunity…
STARTING AND FINISHING EMAILS
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.
Professional Email Closings
Sincerely, Regards, and Yours sincerely - These are the simplest and most useful letter closings to use
in a formal business setting. These are appropriate in almost all instances.
Best regards, Kind regards, Warm regards, Best wishes, and With appreciation - These letter closings
fill the need for something slightly more personal. They are appropriate once you have some
knowledge of the person to whom you are writing.
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 semi-formal or formal. We write informal emails when we want to be friendly, or when we
know the reader well.
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 An 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
Courtesy titles
Miss: unmarried women
Mrs.: married women
Ms.: unspecified marital situation
Mr.: all men
MECHANICS
, THE SUBJECT LINE – BIG IMPACT
People judge emails by their subject lines. The words you choose for your email subject lines can have a big
impact on whether or not the hard work you’ve put into your email will pay off.
Readers scan the subject line in order to decide whether to open, forward, file, or trash a message. Your
message is by far not the only one in your recipient's mailbox. That is why it is important to craft subject lines
that are compelling enough to get people to open your email.
As a rule subject lines should be brief yet descriptive and specific. Provide the recipient a reason to open your
email, avoiding vague as well as overlong subject descriptions.
STICK TO ONE TOPIC PER EMAIL
Each separate subject is a separate email.
Avoid the temptation to knit together non-related or loosely related topics, because the reader will reply only
to the first item that grabs his or her attention and after a few replies and forwards the email thread will have
become so entangled and complicated you do not know what piece of information is where.
If your points are not very substantial, you could include them in 1 mail but …
number or bullet your points
… to ensure they are all read (adding an introductory line that states how many parts there are to the
message).
Also, do not hit reply to start an email on an entirely different topic. A new topic deserves a fresh email.
RECAP FORMAL EMAIL WRITING
STRUCTURE
Your message needs to be clear from the FIRST READ
Use a logical structure that is clear
No mistakes (spelling, grammar…)
PROFESSIONAL WRITING
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF WRITING EMAILS
YOU WRITE AN EMAIL TO REACH A GOAL
Reach your goal!
What’s the goal of writing a formal email?
What’s your goal?
What do you need?
Email writing it is often your first point of contact in business and can make or break a project, an idea, an
opportunity…
STARTING AND FINISHING EMAILS
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.
Professional Email Closings
Sincerely, Regards, and Yours sincerely - These are the simplest and most useful letter closings to use
in a formal business setting. These are appropriate in almost all instances.
Best regards, Kind regards, Warm regards, Best wishes, and With appreciation - These letter closings
fill the need for something slightly more personal. They are appropriate once you have some
knowledge of the person to whom you are writing.
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 semi-formal or formal. We write informal emails when we want to be friendly, or when we
know the reader well.
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 An 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
Courtesy titles
Miss: unmarried women
Mrs.: married women
Ms.: unspecified marital situation
Mr.: all men
MECHANICS
, THE SUBJECT LINE – BIG IMPACT
People judge emails by their subject lines. The words you choose for your email subject lines can have a big
impact on whether or not the hard work you’ve put into your email will pay off.
Readers scan the subject line in order to decide whether to open, forward, file, or trash a message. Your
message is by far not the only one in your recipient's mailbox. That is why it is important to craft subject lines
that are compelling enough to get people to open your email.
As a rule subject lines should be brief yet descriptive and specific. Provide the recipient a reason to open your
email, avoiding vague as well as overlong subject descriptions.
STICK TO ONE TOPIC PER EMAIL
Each separate subject is a separate email.
Avoid the temptation to knit together non-related or loosely related topics, because the reader will reply only
to the first item that grabs his or her attention and after a few replies and forwards the email thread will have
become so entangled and complicated you do not know what piece of information is where.
If your points are not very substantial, you could include them in 1 mail but …
number or bullet your points
… to ensure they are all read (adding an introductory line that states how many parts there are to the
message).
Also, do not hit reply to start an email on an entirely different topic. A new topic deserves a fresh email.
RECAP FORMAL EMAIL WRITING
STRUCTURE
Your message needs to be clear from the FIRST READ
Use a logical structure that is clear
No mistakes (spelling, grammar…)
