Emails very greatly in the level of formality depending on what is your status of relation with the receiver. Similarly, there are various levels of politeness depending on who are you writing to and what is the nature of your query. Though emails are less formal and shorter than formal letters, yet you should not use very informal tone, exclamation marks, slangs, emoticons or incomplete sentences. Contracted verb forms are allowed bud not advised.
Following is a sample of British style business email with typical recommendations to be followed:
Full name of the contact person. Abbreviations i.e. promo, asap are allowed in formal emails. A formal, friendly ending. Always use full name especially in the first interaction, later you can just use last names. |
To: Office@abc.com CC: YourManager@xyz.com Subject: Inquiry Regarding Training DVDs Dear Mr. John Elijah I am the IT assistant manager at XYZ Company. I am writing you to inform that we have received the promo material about your sales preparation DVDs and are interested in buying some. Could you please provide us some more details about the actual content as our team is not surefire which items would be the most suited for our staff. Please do not forget to dispatch a price list and payment terms with requested the details. Looking forward to your positive response Regards Kelvin Martin XYZ Inc. IT Assistant Manager 532, ABC Road, Rotherham |
Always introduce yourself with your designation. Be clear and to the point. |
Emails very greatly in the level of formality depending on what is your status of relation with the receiver. Similarly, there are various levels of politeness depending on who are you writing to and what is the nature of your query. Though emails are less formal and shorter than formal letters, yet you should not use very informal tone, exclamation marks, slangs, emoticons or incomplete sentences. Contracted verb forms are allowed bud not advised.
Academic emails are not official, instead they are mostly personal. The level of politeness and friendliness depends on whom you are writing to i.e. is it your teacher or a head of department you do not know very well.
Given below is a sample of British style academic email with typical recommendations to be followed:
Subject should be clear Use Dear + family name Come straight to the point and provide supporting details Close the email with Best Regards or Best wishes, your name and contact details |
To: Professor@University.com Subject: Request form IT statistical data Dear Dr. Carl I am the last year PhD student in the department of Computer Science and my research topic is a quantitative study of internet development since its inception. As per requirements of my project, I need to utilize the advanced statistical tools for quick processing of the data, my project supervisor, Dr. Hugh Johns, advised me to communicate with you for advice. Could I possibly come and see you to discuss about the said requirements? To give you a slight idea of the scope of my venture, I have attached a copy of my draft research proposal. I would be very grateful indeed for you kind help. Best Regards, J. Thomas BS (CS) Final year ABC University |
Always use I would be grateful or I would really appreciate. Do NOT write Thank You for your time/attention. |
You can give a link to British style here, will be useful for SEO |
Writing American Style business email style is very similar to writing British business style emails and same directions should be followed. However, American style is a little less formal but a little more direct, please consider the following examples: |
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British style for email writing I would be thankful if you may send the money to… A list of similar items can be found in Please do not hesitate to contact us |
American style for email writing Please send the payment to You can find a list of similar items in Please feel free to contact us |
Date is different from the British Style i.e. 25/3/2010 Observe the usage of commas and periods Always use Sincerely or Sincerely yours in email endings |
To: Kramar@email.com Date: 3/25/2010 Subject: Request for training of our team Dear Miss. Julia, I am Manager of IT department at MyCompany. I am writing to inquire about the possibility of a customized training of my team i.e. a group of newly hired five hardware engineers. We are interested in having them learn the basics of the project management and problem solving. Could you please let me know the pricing and scheduling options available for two-week training program? Sincerely, Ali Abbas MyCompany, Pakistan |
US Spellings e.g. customized instead of customised. |
Writing American Style academic email style is very similar to writing British style academic emails and same directions should be followed. Just like American style business emails, academic mails are also less formal as compared to their counterpart i.e. British style academic emails. Given below is a sample academic email in American style, which is pretty much self-explanatory, with standard recommendations.
Date is different from the British Style i.e. 25/3/2010 Observe the usage of commas and periods Many thanks, courteous and formal, suites academic style |
To: Professor@Email.com Date: 9/22/2010 Subject: Proposed meeting this Thursday Dear Dr. Shawn I am planning to submit the attached research paper to 'IT Magazine' coming week. I wonder if it might be possible for me to see you on this Thursday before I dispatch it? I will be thankful for your remarks and guidance. If you are not free on Thursday, please suggest a time more feasible for you. Many thanks, Vito Corleone |
US Clear and short subject |
