Writing Business Emails

Transcript:

Hello!

Today we look at writing business emails in English.

In general:

• We tend to avoid sending unnecessary replies (like “Thank you”) as they waste readers’ time;
• Do not use capital letters when writing words. They give the impression you are SHOUTING AT YOUR READER;
• Avoid using ‘emoticons’ in business emails like “:-)” for happy or “:-(” for sad;
• Do not use informal language, slang or abbreviations such as LOL (laugh out loud), BTW (by the way), or ASAP, or expressions like C\wt 2cu (can’t wait to see you).

Address, subject and greetings

• Use an appropriate email address from which to send your business email (Not something like “hotlips29@gmail.com” ).
• Be specific about the contents of the email in the subject box. This will help you and the other person to find emails easily at a later date. Keep titles short and specific (like “Signed copy of Johnson deed”) and never vague titles (like “As discussed”);
• Greetings should be professional. If you don’t know the person’s name you can use:
  – To whom it may concern;
  – Good afternoon
  If you know the name you could use:
  – Dear Ms Jones (but avoid “Mrs” unless you are certain that the woman is married. Outside the UK, many people consider “Mrs” as archaic);
  – Dear Mr Jones;
  – Mr Jones;
  – Ms Jones;
  – Dear Sam (informal);
  – Hello Sam (informal);
  – Hi Sam (informal);
  – Hey Sam (extremely informal).
• In the English speaking world we tend to use very few titles. We don’t have titles like “Geometra”, “Ingegnere”, “Ragioniere”, or “Notaio” and we don’t call people with a university degree “doctor” unless they are medical doctors or have a Ph.D.

Opening

• In your opening, avoid unnecessary pleasantries like “How are you?”. Just begin by telling the reader why you are writing to them.

Body

• Use bullet-point in your email body whenever possible. We love them;
• Keep paragraphs short with only one idea or concept per paragraph. If you have another concept to express, then use a new paragraph;
• If your email is too long, consider putting some of the content (like graphs, reports, long lists) in an attachment.

Action close

• Never end your email with a set phrase (like “colgo l’occasione per inviare i miei più cordiali saluti”;
• Use an action close. You should end by telling the reader exactly what action you want from them, like “Please send me the information I have mentioned above as soon as you can”.

Signing off / Endings

• Sign-offs which you can use include:
  – Sincerely / Yours sincerely (extremely formal);
  – Kind regards / Best regards / Regards / All the best / Thank you (formal and informal);
  – Cheers / hugs and kisses / Many thanks (extremely informal).
• When ending your email, write your name and surname. Job descriptions or titles could be written under your name and surname. Many people add the personal gender pronouns they would like other people to use when referring to them like (he/him), or (she/her), (they/them) and so on. These are written directly after the name like this: John Smith (He/him).

Thank you, and see you next time for more Peter’s pills to improve your legal English!

Greetings – saluti
To whom it may concern – A chi di competenza
Unless – a meno che non
Pleasantries – convenevoli
Bullet points – elenco puntato
Set phrase – frase fatta

See more on 57 ways to sign off on an email here: “57 Ways To Sign Off On An Email”

Legal English – Sommario delle Lezioni

• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 54 – Pre-emption right vs Right of first refusal
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 53 – What do we mean by “agent” of a company?
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 52 – Voting at a meeting
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 51 – Contracts vs Deeds
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 50 – Executive and Non-Executive Directors
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 49 – Transfer of shares vs transmission of shares
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 48 – They, them, their for singular nouns
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 47 – Jointly and severally
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 46 – Invoice words
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 45 – Quotation
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 44 – Gazumping and Gazundering
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 43 – English words that the English do not understand
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 42 – Easement vs Profit à prendre
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 41 -er, -or and -ee names
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 40 – The Objects Clause
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 39 – When is Latin hot, and when is it not?
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 38 – Default
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 37 – Company Agent
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 36 – Injunction (false freind)
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 35 – Mortgage
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 34 – Freehold, Leasehold and Commonhold estates
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 33 – Transferor, Transferee and Transmittee
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 32 – Tax evasion, tax mitigation and tax avoidance
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 31 – Numbers
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 30 – Ordinary resolutions vs special resolutions
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 29 – AGM vs EGM
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 28 – A going concern
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 27 – Collocations: Violate, breach, break, disobey and infringe
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 26 – Company meeting words
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 25 – Mortgagor vs Mortgagee
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 24 – Fixed charges vs Floating charges
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 23 – Doctrine
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 22 – Construe
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 21 – Sign vs Execute
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 20 – The closing statement
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 19 – Writing Business Emails
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 18 – Limited companies
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 17 – Annual Accounts
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 16 – Meetings
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 15 – Attorney-at-law vs Attorney-in-fact
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 14 – Here and there compounds
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 13 – Subject Matter
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 12 – The clear days rule
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 11 – Shareholder, Member or Holder of shares?
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 10 – Competition Law
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 9 – Lasting Power of Attorney
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 8 – Guardianship
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 7 – Damage vs Damages
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 6 – Legal Doublets
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 5 – Escrow

Peter Liebenberg

Peter Liebenberg è uno specialista nella formazione delle persone nella conoscenza della lingua inglese. Ha creato molti corsi nel campo dell’inglese per professionisti, tra cui English for banking, English for business e English for Insurance, ma ha sempre avuto un debole per l’inglese legale. Altri corsi che ha creato comprendono Phrasal Verbs I e II. Quando Peter non fa formazione, corre a Parco Sempione, crea arte nel suo studio sulla Martesana e fa volontariato.