An informal email – asking for and giving advice

An informal email – asking for and giving advice

Exercise 3

Choose the correct answers for the questions below

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1 Which of the following greetings could be used in an informal email?

A.Hi Adam,

B.Dear Sir or Madam,

C.To whom it may concern:

D.Hello Sam,

E.Dear Mr Jones,

F.Hi there Ann,

G.Dear Dr Smith,

H.Dear Ms Fletcher,

I.Dear Mum,

2 Which of the following closing lines could be used in an informal e-mail?

A.See you soon,

B.Yours sincerely,

C.Regards,

D.Bye for now,

E.Yours faithfully,

F.Love,

G.Yours truly,

H.All the best,

I.Cheers,

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Informal email giving advice

Read the following informal email and check the different parts and the expressions used.

 
➪ Greeting and signature or closing line. These are the first and last lines in an email or letter.

➪ Opening lines in the first paragraph and closing lines in the last paragraph.

➪ Responding to good news.

➪ Thanking your reader for an invitation and accepting it.

➪ Giving advice.

Structure and useful language

Greeting

The greeting is used to address your reader. You can start with something like ‘Dear John’, but if you have a close relationship with the reader, there are some other expressions that you can use.

• Dear John,
• Hi/Hello John,
• Hi there John,
• John,

Opening lines (paragraph one)

In the first paragraph you can start by asking about how your reader is. Here you have some sample sentences that may be useful.

• How are you?
• How are things?
• How have you been?
• How are you doing?
• How is life treating you?
• I hope you are doing well.

You can also make reference to their last email, apologise for not writing earlier, etc.

• Thanks for your last email/letter. 
• It is nice/great to hear from you.
• It’s lovely to have news from you.
• Sorry for not writing earlier. 
• Sorry that I haven’t been in touch for a while.

You can respond to good or bad news using the following sentences.

• (I’m) glad to hear about/that…
• (I’m) so pleased to hear about/that..
• (I’m sorry) to hear about/that…

Body of the email/letter (paragraph two)

In the second paragraph you should introduce the reason why you are writing. You can use some useful language such as:

• Anyway, the reason I’m writing is to/because…
• Anyway, I’m writing to/because…
• Anyway, I’m writing to let you know that…
• I was wondering if…

Ending the email/letter (paragraph three)

In the third paragraph (or fourth paragraph if the body of the email takes up two paragraphs), is where you basically say goodbye. Here you have some common language.

• Well, that’s all for now. 
• (I) hope I can see you soon. 
• I’m looking forward to seeing you/hearing from you soon. 
• Give my regards to…

Signature

The signature is the closing words where you include your name. Here you have some common expressions.

• Regards,
• Love,
• Lots of love,
• All the best,
• Best,
• Cheers,