Emailing- Formal and Informal Phrases

Classify and rank the formal and informal business email phrases

Dear Sir or Madam

Dear Mr/ Ms/ Dr + family

name

To: All sales staff

Dear + first name

Dear all

Hi + first name

Hi everyone

Hi

first name

Hi guys

Thank you for your email

yesterday.

Thank you for your quick

reply.

Thanks for meeting me last

week to talk about…

I was delighted to receive

your email saying…

I was so happy to get your

email this morning about…

I am writing to you in

connection with…

I am writing to you in order

to…

I am writing to you

regarding…

I’m writing to you about…

I’m writing to you to…

About…

Re:…

I hope you are well.

How are you?

Hope you had a good

weekend.

Hope you enjoyed the

conference last week.

How’s it going?

How are things?

How’s life?

Wassup?

Alright?

Could you possibly…?

Would you mind…?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Could you…?

Can you…?

Please find the information

attached.

I have pasted in the required

information below.

The information is attached.

Here’s the info you asked for.

I look forward to hearing from

you.

I look forward to hearing from

you soon.

I look forward to our next

meeting.

I’m looking forward to hearing

from you.

I’m looking forward to hearing

from you soon.

I hope we have the chance to

meet again soon.

Looking forward to hearing

from you.

Looking forward to seeing

you again soon.

Write soon!

Can’t wait until our next

meeting!

If you need any further

information, please do not

hesitate to contact me.

If you have any questions,

please do not hesitate to

contact me.

If you need to know anything

else, please let me know.

If you need any more info,

just drop me a line.

If anything isn’t clear, feel

free to ask.

Yours sincerely

Sincerely yours

Yours faithfully

Yours

Best regards

All the best

Best wishes

Cheers

See you

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

If you get stuck, use these hints to help you:

There are nine categories

No more than three have the same function and level of formality, and sometimes just one

The smallest categories have four items and the biggest categories have ten items.

The functions of the categories are:
1

Opening greeting

2

Opening line – talking about last contact

3

Opening line – mentioning the topic

4

Opening line – friendly, sociable phrases

5

Requests

6

Mentioning contents

7

Closing line – Mentioning next contact

8

Closing line – Offering more help

9

Closing greeting

What are the general differences between formal and informal emailing phrases?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Without looking back, brainstorm as many phrases as you can into the gaps below.

Dear Sir or Madam

Hi

Thank you for your email

yesterday.

I was so happy to get your

email this morning about…

I am writing to you in

connection with…

About…

I hope you are well.

Wassup?

Could you possibly…?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014

Can you…?

Please find the information

attached.

Here’s the info you asked for.

I look forward to hearing from

you.

Write soon!

If you need any further

information, please do not

hesitate to contact me.

If you need any more info,

just drop me a line.

Yours sincerely

Cheers

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2014