!DEPARTAMENTO DE CIÊNCIAS DA SAÚDE Medicina Dentária UBA IV ENGLISH Worksheet: Writing Emails in English Exercise 1: Match the informal phrases (1-15) to the more formal/neutral equivalents (a-o). 1. What do you need? D 2. Thanks for the email of 12 Feb. 3. Sorry, I can t make it. 4. I m sorry to tell you that 5. I promise 6. Could you? 7. You haven t 8. Don t forget 9. I need to 10. Shall I? 11. But / Also./ So 12. Please could you 13. I m sorry for 14. Re 15. See you next week. a. With regard to (or With reference to) b. I can assure you that c. We note from our records that you have not d. Please let us know your requirements. e. I was wondering if you could f. We would like to remind you that g. I look forward to meeting you next week. h. Thank you for your email received 12 February. i. I am afraid I will not be able to attend. j. Would you like me to? k. I would be grateful if you could l. Please accept our apologies for m. It is necessary for me to n. We regret to advise you that o. However / In addition./ Therefore Exercise 2: Look at this business e-mail. What is it asking the reader to do? 2.1. Identify the different parts of the e-mail body (opening greeting; contents; closing remarks) 2.2. Which part of the email is the most formal and polite? Underline the expressions that refer to this style. 2.3. Identify in the e-mail body three different verb structures: Imperative: If-clause (conditional sentence): Exercise 3: What are the following extracts about? Underline the REQUESTS for action. A. Thank you for your e-mail. Please, change your reservation as soon as possible. If you wait until the day of travel, you will have less chance of obtaining a place on the later sailing. B. Please contact me urgently on 0124 3477 67 concerning your account. Alternatively if outside normal office hours, contact customer care on the above number, which offers a 6am to 9pm service. C. Thank you for your kind inquiry. We have one room left on 28 th August with en-suit shower and sea view. The rate is 86 inclusive of breakfast. If you could give us a credit card number, we will reserve the room for you. In the extract C above, the writer used a conditional form. Change it into a direct request using an imperative form. How does this change the effect?
!DEPARTAMENTO DE CIÊNCIAS DA SAÚDE Medicina Dentária UBA IV ENGLISH Exercise 4: Get the right style and tone for your reader. Read the two versions below of an email from a student who needed to write to someone in authority (a professor) to get permission to use a facility in the faculty of a university. Which email is better? List your reasons. Email #1 Subject: Career Fair Hi Lee I m an engineering student from NUS Careers Club, organizing a career fair next month. The committee has spotted a place. We are wondering if we cd use the corridor outside AS6 for the booths we will be putting up. That is a great spot for us to put the booths heavy traffic and all. Let me know soonest possible if this is OK? Awaiting your positive response! Mark Email #2 Request for permission to use LT6 Foyer Subject: Request for permission to use LT6 Amphitheater Dear Prof Lee I am an engineering student who is involved in organizing this year s career fair for Engineering students. This will take place in the last week of November. We would like to use the foyer outside Lecture Theatre 6. This is an ideal location for the fair for these reasons: 1. The place is quite large and will be able to take the number of booths we are planning for. 2. Traffic is heavy so the fair will get maximum exposure and attention. 3. We used it last year and the employers who participated reported that their booths were very well-visited. Hence, we would appreciate it if you could let us use this location. If you think this is possible, I will send you the official request letter. We look forward to your response. Respectfully yours Mark Jones 3rd Year, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department Exercise 5: Be considerate of your reader. The student in the email below needed to write to request a letter of recommendation. She sent the email on the Monday before the Tuesday in question. Read the email and state why it is considered to be an inconsiderate email. Subject: Letter, please? Hi Miss Fonseca I am going for a Work & Travel Programme on the April holiday. I was required to submit a letter to prove that i am proficient in English. The letter should be official (with school letterhead) and duly sealed with the school stamp. Can you help me to write this letter, and can i collect it on Tuesday? It is quite urgent. Maria
4 Opening and closing A Match the email beginnings (1 8) with the endings (a h). Beginnings 1 I am writing with regard to your recent email. We regret to inform you that there are no double rooms available for the nights you require. c 2 Thanks so much for the wonderful present. It s exactly the book that I wanted how did you know? I m really looking forward to reading it. 3 Patricia, I ve just read your email. I m so sorry to hear about what happened. 4 Sorry, I can t make it to your birthday party at Fishers restaurant, as I m away on that day. Endings a) Anyway, thanks again for inviting me, and I m really looking forward to it. Do you want me to bring anything? b) You know you can count on me if you need any support. I ll call you at the weekend to see how things are. c) Should you need any further information about room availability, we will be happy to assist you. d) I look forward to receiving this information as soon as possible. 5 I am mailing this via the Contact Us link on your website. I d like to know a few more details about the anti-virus software that s listed on the site. 6 I am writing with reference to our order number GH67. The goods arrived this morning, but you only sent 200 pieces instead of the 300 that we ordered. 7 Yes! Great! I d love to come to the party. 8 I ve just heard from Antonio about the Paris contract. It s fantastic news you worked really hard on this and you deserve the success. e) It really is great news, and I m sure that it s only the beginning of our work in the French market. f) Please deal with this matter urgently. I expect a reply from you by tomorrow morning at the latest. g) Thanks again for the gift, and give my regards to your family. h) Anyway, sorry again that I can t come, but have a great time. I hope we can meet up soon. What about going to see that new Speilberg film? 14 Basics
B C Match the beginning and ending pairs in section A with the descriptions (1 8) below. 1 An email asking for information. Neutral style. 5d 2 An email giving information. Formal style. 3 An email accepting an invitation. Informal style. 4 An email refusing an invitation. Informal style. 5 An email of congratulations. Neutral style. 6 An email of complaint. Formal style. 7 An email of thanks. Neutral style. 8 An email of sympathy. Informal style. Read the following sentences. Decide whether they are beginnings or endings. Then decide whether they are neutral or informal. 1 The computer network will be shut down for maintenance Beg/End Neut/Inf at 5pm on Thursday. 2 Oh, yes I ll be back late tonight. Can you do the shopping Beg/End Neut/Inf and buy something nice for dinner? Thx. 3 I look forward to receiving your advice on this matter. Beg/End Neut/Inf 4 What a surprise how nice to hear from you! Beg/End Neut/Inf 5 Bye for now. See you soon. Beg/End Neut/Inf 6 I hope that everything is okay, but do not hesitate to contact Beg/End Neut/Inf me if you need any clarification. 7 Please find attached my report, as promised in Friday s meeting. Beg/End Neut/Inf 8 I m so happy for you! Write again soon and tell me how it s going. Beg/End Neut/Inf 9 We are writing to advise you about some changes in our price list. Beg/End Neut/Inf 10 If you d like any more details, just let me know. I m away Beg/End Neut/Inf all next week but Andrea is dealing with this in my absence. 11 Just a quick note to say I really enjoyed last night. Beg/End Neut/Inf 12 Simon and I have been talking about your holiday plans for next Beg/End Neut/Inf August. It looks like we won t be able to join you. I m really sorry. D Look back at the examples in section C. Find: a) two written to someone unknown or little known. / b) four written to colleagues, perhaps sent to several people. / / / c) five written to a friend. / / / / d) one written to a very close family member. 3 Basics 15