Starting and finishing emails
“My lecturer rejected my research proposal in the email. Was there anything wrong with my paper? He seemed irritated. Maybe I wrote the email the wrong way.”
Are you stressed to think about how to write down a proper email, Max-E Mates? Don’t worry. Let’s have some refreshment about how to start and to finish your emails properly.
Here are some important points to consider when starting and finishing an email.
Formal or informal?
We write a formal email when we want to be polite or do not know the reader very well. A lot of work emails are formal. We write informal emails when we want to be friendly, or when we know the reader well. Here are some examples of formal and informal messages:
| Formal | Informal |
|---|---|
| An email to a customer A job application An email to your manager A complaint to a shop An email from one company to another company | A birthday greeting to a colleague An email to a colleague who is also a good friend A social invitation to a friend at your workplace An email with a link to a funny YouTube clip A message to a friend on a social networking site |
Before you start writing an email, decide if you want to write a formal email or an informal one.
Layout and punctuation
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.
| Formal | Informal |
|---|---|
| Dear Mr. Piper, I am writing to thank you for all your help. I look forward to seeing you next week. With best wishes, John Smith | Hi Tim, Many thanks for your help. See you next week. Cheers, John |
Phrases for starting and finishing
Here are some phrases which we use for starting and finishing emails. We use these in formal and informal emails:
| Starting phrases | Dear Tim, Good morning Tim, |
| Ending phrases | Regards, With best wishes, With many thanks and best wishes, |
You also need to know which phrases to use only in a formal email or an informal one:
| Formal | Informal | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting phrases | Dear Mr. Piper, Dear Sir or Madam, | Hi Tim, Hi there Tim, Morning/Afternoon/Evening Tim, Hello again Tim, |
| Ending phrases | Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, Yours truly, | Rgds, Cheers, Bye for now, See you soon, |
Now you’re ready to send emails to your professors! Good luck for your research, Max-E Mates!
Source: “Unit 4: Starting and finishing emails”, Learn English British Council, https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/business-english/english-for-emails/unit-4-starting-and-finishing-emails