171 Writing coach Informal and formal email You write emails to give or ask for information, to apologise, complain, make suggestions, or apply for a job. If you write to friends or relatives, your emails will be personal and informal, whereas if you write to people you don’t know/ don’t know so well, your emails will be rather formal. In informal emails you may use informal language, including short forms, such as don’t and isn’t. In formal emails, however, the language has to be formal because this is seen as more polite (for examples, see p. 102). Formal emails should therefore not contain any short forms. Emails in a nutshell Start with: From: your name and email address To: the name and email address of the person you are writing to Subject: what the email is about Address the person you are writing to and sign off at the end. In the introduction you often refer to the email you have received, or you give your reason for writing. Before signing off you might want to say that you would like to stay in contact. The main differences between informal and formal emails: Organisation Informal email Formal email Greeting/Salutation: Address the person you are writing to in an appropriate way. Dear Hannah, Hi Otis, Hello Marc, Dear Sir or Madam, (if you don’t know the person you are writing to); Dear Ms Sunderland, / Dear Sadaf Henderson, (if you know the person by name) Introduction: Say why you are writing./Give your reason for writing. Thanks for your email. Good to hear you’re well. Let me tell you about … I am referring to your email from 20th August … I would like to inquire about … Main body Start a new paragraph for each of the content points (bullet points). Address and develop the bullet points and observe the function words (explain, describe, suggest, etc.) given in the prompt. Don’t include any unnecessary information. Also, bear in mind that for an email of 200 words, around 60 words per bullet point will be enough. Closing: Say what you expect from the person you are writing to, or that you wish to stay in contact. Let’s keep in touch. Hope to hear from you soon. I look forward to your reply/response. I look forward to hearing from you. Sign off All the best, Take care, Hugs, Best, … Best regards, Kind regards, Yours truly, Yours sincerely, Sincerely yours, … Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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