Emails
Writing formal Email.
1. Subject line
• The subject line is what the reader sees in their inbox. If the subject line is
misleading or missing information, your email may not get read.
• Keep the subject short, clear and to the point.
• Avoid such misleading titles: “Good News”, “Hello”, “Message from Mary”.
• You should use short and specific titles, eg: “Required Student Meeting”,
“Laboratory Equipment Order”
2. Greetings
• At the beginning of your email, greet a person by name. Depending on the
level of formality.
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“Dear Mr./Ms./Dr./Professor Name”
If the receiver is more senior to you, write his first and last name.
Dear Mr. John Smith.
For informal greetings, eg: “Hi Name”, “Hello Name”
3. Purpose
• Start your email first paragraph stating the purpose of what the message is
about.
• Eg: “ I am writing regarding…….”, “ I wanted to follow up…..” “ I would
like to ask about”
• Give full details in the following paragraph maximum in 3 sentences
explaining the problem or adding more details of the topic.
• Look at this example.
Example
• I'm concerned about the number of sick days staff have been taking recently.
• Staff in the IT department have taken a total of 44 sick days so far this
month, compared to a total of 23 for last month. This is affecting
productivity and also placing a lot of stress on the employees who do come
to work.
4. Adding a call to action
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Any action you want the recipient to do using polite phrases.
Eg: “Could you……..” “Can I ask you to…”
“I suggest that you ……” “I would be grateful if….”
For example
“Can I ask you to design a poster to inform staff about the new politics”
“ I suggest that you contact with all clients who may have been affected by
the data breach”
Endings
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Close your email with assign –off and your name.
eg: “Sincerely”
“Best Regards”
“ Regards”
+ Your Name
• For more formal and informal phrases ,look at page 4,5,6.
• Here you have a YouTube video link that explains everything about emails
ant its phrases, you should watch it.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xay5TeJVSC0
• Look at this example of an Email
Subject line
Exercises
1. Write a formal email enquiring the senior Muhammed Wuhaidi about the
time of the final exams to be held within the current situation adding more
details as much as you can.
2. Write an email to your instructor mentioning that you apologize for not
submitting your assignment in its deadline due to different reasons.