Email

• Does the email have a subject line, which summarizes the content of the email in a few words? subject: __________

• Does the email have an opening phrase followed by a comma?

  • Informal: Hi XXX, / Hello (again) XXX,

  • Formal: Dear Mr. / Ms. YYY,

• Does the first line of the email body start with a capital letter?

• Do you have an introduction? For your introduction, you can (a) thank your recipient¹ at the beginning of your email if you are replying to an email; (b) ask your recipient how they are doing and tell them how you are (c) introduce yourself if your recipient doesn’t know you

  • Informal: Thanks for your email. It’s great to hear from you. / How are you? I’m happy that you’ve found friends at your new school. You’ll have to introduce me to them when I come visit.

  • Formal: My name is Joe Public. / Thank you for your prompt reply. / Thank you for contacting me.

• Does the email answer the questions you were asked / fulfil the task you were given?

• Do you provide enough details and examples?

• Do you end your email with (a question and) some friendly words:

  • Informal: I can’t wait to hear from you. / I’m really looking forward to seeing you!

  • Formal: Thank you for your help / time / assistance. / I look forward to hearing from you soon / meeting you next Friday.

  • Both informal and formal: Let me know if you need anything else.

• Does the email end with a closing, for example:

  • Informal: Bye for now, Best wishes, See you later, (you can only use this if you’ll meet the recipient in person soon), Cheers,

  • Formal: Yours sincerely, Kind regards, Regards,

  • Common mistakes: Greetings, is NOT an English closing. Do NOT put ‘Your’ in front of your signature.

• Did you sign your email?

1. recipient = the person you are writing to ↩