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Hello, Jeremy here with your free and daily business English lesson. It's Thursday, so
we're talking about Writing Emails. As always, if you'd like to read today's lesson, click
on the link below the video. You can go to the blog, read the lesson and see the day's
vocabulary. At the end of this video, I'll ask some questions. You can also find those
questions, and the answers, on the blog.
Let's start with some vocabulary:
Number 1 "Dear": A common word to start an email.
For example: Dear Kevin, How have you been? 2, "Greetings from [...]: A common way to
start an email to a group of unknown people. Greetings from our team, We would like to
welcome you... And 3, "Tone": The emotional feeling of writing.
For example: Start off by asking about his kids. That'll create a happy tone.
So, the past two weeks we've been looking at email greetings. Let's review the greetings
we've seen.
"Dear" is the most popular greeting and is great for most situations.
"Dearest" is good to use with someone you love. You won't use it much in business situations,
but it's possible with an old colleague or someone who was really helpful.
You can use "Just A Name" for emails when you want to be more direct.
"Hello, hey, and hi" are all good and give your email a casual, friendly tone.
Sometimes you won't use any greeting at all. Nothing at all is good for emails that are
more like chatting. Or it's possible for situations where you don't know the person's name or
you're writing to a large group.
Finally, "Greetings from [...]" is a friendlier way to begin an email if you don't know the
person's name or you're writing to a large group.
OK. Enough review, let's look at some real life examples and how they sound.
The first example is from Amazon.com. I returned some items and here's how they began their
email.
"Hello,
We're writing to let you know we processed your refund of..."
Amazon begins the email with just "Hello". This creates a friendly feeling. They don't
include my name because it's just a form letter and they don't know who I am. Still, it's
friendly and casual, just like Amazon.
The second example is from an old boss of mine. He wrote:
Jeremy,
Great job working on this. You...
He was my boss and we were talking about work, so he didn't use "dear" or anything at all,
just my name. It made him seem in charge, like he's the boss so he doesn't need to greet
me in a special way. This is probably a good thing, but notice that it's very businesslike.
Here's a third example:
Greetings from FelixPlus,
You've been chosen as one of...
This is from a company that wanted me to try their product. They didn't know my name because
I'm on a big list, but the "greetings from" sounds nice and friendly. I like it as an
opening.
OK. Time for today's questions.
1. Why does Amazon start their email with "Hello"?
a. They want to be friendly and casual. b. They want to be in charge and businesslike.
c. They want to be friendly with a group they don't know.
2. Why does a boss start an email with just a name?
a. He wants to be friendly and casual. b. He wants to be in charge and businesslike.
c. He wants to be friendly with a group they don't know.
And 3. Why might a company start a mass email with "Greetings from..."?
a. They want to be friendly and casual. b. They want to be in charge and businesslike.
c. They want to be friendly with a group they don't know.
OK. Thanks for using Stuart Mill English. And if you want to check your answers, get
some more practice, or ask questions, please follow the links below the video to the blog,
Facebook, or Twitter.