Notes to Worksheet 1
provide > provision; receive > receipt
Formal and informal
correspondence
Learning aims:
• to practise informal emails in a business context
• to differentiate between formal or neutral and
informal phrases
• to use phrases of varying formality in emails
You should read the three emails quickly in order to
assess the level of formality. Say what they think
makes the correspondence more formal or more
informal.
Answers
1 Fairly neutral. The writer is on a first-name basis
with the correspondent, but the tone is quite formal.
The request is indirect (I’d be grateful if you could …)
and the conclusion is neutral (best regards).
2 Informal. It is clear that the correspondents know
each other well. No names are used and the tone is
chatty. The request is more direct (Can you …).
3 Formal. The form of address is formal (Mr Baker),
and many phrases used are formal.
3a This exercise draws attention to formal and
informal verbs with similar meaning.
Answers
1 tell 2 ask for 3 say sorry 4 get 5 help 6 ask
about 7 change 8 stop 9 need 10 give
3b Knowing the different forms of words helps
you to increase flexibility with language. Please,
make a table with the verbs and their
corresponding nouns. Check the pronunciation of
the words, especially changes in the stress
pattern.
Answers
request can be used as a noun or verb with no
change. The other verbs change as follows to form
nouns:
apologise > apology; assist > assistance / assistant;
enquire > enquiry; alter > alternative;
Life Upper Intermediate 2nd edition Business Writing
terminate > termination; require > requirement;
4 Find expressions from the texts to
complete the table.
Answers
1 Dear … (Dear Mr / Mrs/ Ms etc are more formal)
2 Hi 3 I am writing in response to …
4 With regard to your interest in …
5 Please find attached …
6 I’d be delighted to … 7 Unfortunately …
8 I’m afraid … 9 I’d be grateful if you could …
10 Can you … ?
11 I look forward to hearing from you.
12 We thank you for your interest.
13 See you soon 14 Best regards
15 Yours sincerely (used when the name of the
addressee is known; if not, use Yours faithfully.)
5 Please, highlight the formal expressions in
the email. This will help you see which parts to
rewrite. Refer them back to the language in
Exercises 3 and 4.
Suggested answer
Hi Bruce
About your visit to Italy next week, here are the
details of your flights and hotel reservations. I’m
afraid the business college in Perugia has cancelled
the appointment on Wednesday. Can you give the
same presentation in Bologna?
Please confirm the flight times as soon as possible.
Email me if you need any more help.
Bye
Maddie
6 You should highlight the informal
expressions first, then refer to the language
in Exercises 3 and 4 to rewrite the email.
Suggested answer
Dear Maddie
I’m writing about flight times to Italy. Unfortunately,
I can’t fly out on Monday morning. Would it be
possible for you to change it to Monday evening?
Regarding the presentation, I’d be happy to talk in
Bologna instead.
Kind regards,
Bruce
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