02/25/2021
Ask yourself these questions before you start writing your email: Do I ‘know’ the person/people I am writing to? Is this the first communication? How formal do I need to be? Are they a colleague/client/customer? How ‘friendly’ should I be?
I don’t know your name…
Dear Sir/Madam
Yours faithfully/sincerely
I am writing to a department/group for the first time…
To whom it may concern
Yours sincerely
We haven’t communicated before but I know your name…
Dear Mr./Ms. Green
Yours sincerely/Kind Regards
We have communicated before but I need to maintain professional distance…
Good morning/afternoon John/Helen
(Hello) John/Helen
Best/Kind Regards
Regards
We have communicated regularly before and know each other well…
Hi John/Helen
Best Regards/Wishes
• With reference to your email of (date)/regarding X…
• With regard to/Regarding X…
• Thank you/thanks for your email
• Thanks for your prompt response/getting back to me to me so quickly
• I am writing to…(give reason)
• Please find attached…
• Please don’t hesitate to contact me/get in touch
• I look forward to hearing from you soon
The Present Continuous Tense - In which of these situations do you think we use the present continuous (progressive) form..? To talk about..
In which of these situations do you think we use the simple present form in English..? To talk about...
Directly translating from your language to English can result in some ‘classic’ word choice or word order mistakes, and often some ‘missing’ words! Are you making these mistakes?