INGLESE B2-C1

Lezione 5

E-mails in the workplace: Company internal communication; Company external communication (email nel
caso di richiesto di un colloquio conoscitivo oppure email se ho un complaint); Personal emails; Professional
emails (used for business purposes).

Sto inviando dei documenti -> delivering documents

Nel caso della risposta dell’ufficio complaint mi aspetterei che io dica sono disponibile per incontrare il capo
in ogni momento; quindi, sto dando il via libera per set my schedules.

It’s really important to select the topic (l’oggetto dell’email) of the message -> optional, but efficient to
insert it.

1.2. Email style (Baron 1998:154)

Modality
Linguistic feature writing ------------------- speech Comments

Level of formality High low traditional email has been more informal than
(paradigmatic) traditional writing. however, as the users of
email and the range of functions of email grow,
email is expanding to include formal stylistic
usage as well (e.g. job application, thank-you
letters)
Politeness formal informal frequent use of 1st and 2nd person pronouns in
Forms of address (paradigmatic) email
Salutation, signature Obligatory Optional email often omits salutation (or uses generic,
informal Hi, even with strangers)
email often omits signature,
especially in messages sent down an
organisation chain
Emotion varied, but varied, but often emotion on email often not monitored before
usually not self- sent. Lack of paralinguistic cues and/or
monitored monitored immediate reply can further inflame email
before message (paradigmatic) emotion
sent
Humor Varied often higher use of humour to establish rapport is common in
(paradigmatic) email, perhaps to help compensate for lack of
visual signals or perhaps because email
encourages personal disclosure.
Personal disclosure Lack of physical presence fosters disclosure
fosters even more disclosure than writing

2.3. Emotions and personalized greetings/farewells

Informal features in emails comprise capitalizations, exclamations, emoticons, contractions,

colloquial expressions, and conversational items such as oh, well, yeah, etc. They can be found
everywhere in the email and help convey emotions (especially emphasis added using capital letters,
italics, exclamations marks, emoticons, discourse markers such as oh, well, yeah, etc, acronyms like
LOL). Contrast (4a-b) with (4c).

(4) (in subject lines)

a. WELL DONE!!!  Ok folks, SETTLE DOWN LOL (meaning: laugh-out-loud)
b. ???? What should I do? The solution is … -> we can’t use it!!
c. TBA/22 material in W 12 TBA8 1000S Order 17021 (formal) RE: time for expected deliveries Nov/Dec.
(formal)

2.3.1. Greetings

Do not use personalized greetings when giving information or directions to the staff (similar to traditional
memos), e.g. (5), and do not use greetings at all in prompt responses to someone you know very well (6)
(Crystal 2001: 100).

(5)
Dear all, -> if you are addressing a group of people that you know, you must know them.
(6)
Inbox message: David, will 7.30 be ok for your talk? Colin
Reply: Fine.

The longer the delay in responding, the more likely the response will contain a greeting, if only an apology
for the time-lag. Some greetings are more formal than others, some are more casual than others, as shown in
example (4)

(7)
+ formal (with Dear) + informal/casual
 WITH GIVEN/NAME/BYNAME: Dear David, Dear  GENERAL GREETING: Hello again!, Hi there!
Dave  GENERAL WORD + ID: Hi from Pete, Goodday
 GIVEN AND FAMILY NAME: Dear David Crystal from …
 WITH TITLE AND SURNAME: Dear Professor  NAME ALONE: David, david, Dave, DC
Crystal, Dear Dr Crystal, Dear Mr Crystal  COMBINATION OF GENERAL GREETING AND
NAME: Hi David, Hey D, Hello David, Hello
DC, (Good) Morning David, Howday David, Hi
dad, morning dave; morning DC
 NOTHING

Adding the person’s first name (or its short form in particular) to greetings always indicates a deeper level of
intimacy, or, at the very least, the fact that you made the small extra effort to personalise the message.

(8)
Dear Pat still somewhat formal opening, highly reminiscent of letter writing
Hello Pat more casual, friendly greeting, with a hint of politeness and respect. Very handy, all purpose
opener
Hi Pat more friendly greeting than Hello x, It is probably inappropriate for a first email exchange
with a stranger, unless the sender wants immediately to set the tone of friendliness among
peers
Hi Pat!! / Hello Pat!!! more enthusiastic salutation
Hello / Hi not including the recipient’s name sounds slightly flat and impersonal
Pat very matter of fact ‘let’s get to the point’ opening
Hey there! very informal salutation, generally reserved for friends
Greetings! sure sign that a junk mail is coming to you
No greetings a. lazy sender and / or
b. no personal connection to you
c. extremely close to you
d. in a hurry. Need to be brief and quick.
Farewell: Sincerely è per le lettere, invece, Regards/Kind Regards/Best Regards sono per le email formali. Se
devo mandare un’email ad un amico si Evita di firmare.

3.1. Email and netiquette (general)

1. Check outgoing messages before posting them (avoid typos and grammar mistakes).
2. Use subject line to indicate the topic.
3. Do not overuse conversational openings and closings.
4. Express ‘business’ requests politely.
5. Learn common abbreviations (used to speed up communication and/or in relatively informal contexts)

(10)
ASAP: as soon as possible
BFN: best for now
BTW: by the way
CU: see you
IMHO: in my humble opinion
LOL: laugh out loud
- OBO: or best offer
- FYI: for your information (often used in subject lines)
- TBA: to be announced

6. Do not worry too much about capitalization (if the email exchange is not too formal).
7. Avoid conventions for communicating emotions, emoticons, etc. They are are good to use in e-mail for
friends. Users are warned against using them in business messages.
8. Attach documents only when absolutely necessary.
9. Be brief.

3.2. Business emails: structure -> STRUTTURA EMAIL FORMALE

(8)
To: brian.knox@kyriakides.law.co.uk
Subject: Meeting with Mr. Jenkins
Attachment: 1_draft_contract
Dear Brian,
Further to our conversation of 15 June,
I am
writing to arrange a meeting for you with the principal
partner, Mr. Jenkins. -> questo è lo scopo della nostra
email.
Thank you for the interesting information that you gave
me.
Would either next Tuesday or Wednesday (June 24 or
25) be convenient for you? -> specificare anche la data
perchè il dettaglio è importante
Please note
that I have attached the draft contract
[Meeting with Mr Jenkins: Specific subject: brief and
concise]
[Dear Brian,: Neutral to formal greeting]
[Further to our conversation of 15 June: Reference to
previous contact/Background]
[I am: No contraction]
[partner, Mr Jenkins: don’t forget the ‘comma’]
[Purpose statement: I would like to + Inf; I am writing
to + Inf]
[Thanks]
[Would … ?: polite: conditional]
[(Tuesday or Wednesday; June 24 or 25): detail is
important]
[either … or … (June 24 or 25): give options: polite]
[would X be convenient for you? Convenient: formal;
avoid informal alternates such as What about meeting up
next week? Avoid phrasal verbs like meet up]
[Proposal]
[Please note: formal]
[that I have attached …: reference to attachment is
 for you to read important]
and will send you the related report as soon as it is [for you to read: plain English ok: avoid forms such as
complete. for your perusal, too formal]
[and will: standard ellipses, you can delete ‘I’ cos
already stated in the same clause]
[and will send you the related report as soon it is
complete: promised action/promise for future action]
I look forward to hearing from you. [I look forward to hearing from you: Positive clause;
formal]
Kind Regards [Kind Regards,: polite sign-off/farewell]

James Roberts Signature

James Roberts [Signature block] [Signature block/signature file: (minimally)

Assistant to the Legal Executive comprising full name, title and qualification, address,
JYTaylor and Partners contact details (landline, mobile phone, email),
www.JYTaylorandPartners.com organization website]
j.roberts@JYTaylor.com
Fleet Street, SC1 33L, London
+44777777777746
Pobox:056245362

Further to: (inserire nel glossario)

Please note: (inserire nel glossario)

3. Homework – Emails: Getting the style right

GETTING THE STYLE RIGHT

Be concise and clear.
Stay within a word limit (but depends on topic, relationship between sender and receiver(s) etc.).
Hot tips
- use no more words than is absolutely necessary
- where possible use a shorter equivalent e.g. make a telephone call: call, make contact with: contact

Neutral business style involves (some degree of) politeness (especially in external mails and to make
requests, apologise etc.).

e.g., Ask/Tell him to call tomorrow = Could you ask him to call tomorrow?
Please find attached … (e.g. in internal emails to all staff members; in external emails to business
partners, contractors, other firms etc.)
BUT I’m posting … is ok in internal mails to team members
(BEC Vantage Masterclass)

Exercise 2. (BEC Vantage Masterclass, exercise 1, p. 45): Work in groups. Evaluate each
answer using the checklist below and decide which one is best.

Checklist:
content: Must cover all the points in the bullets in the task instruction.
length: Between 40 and 50 words.
style: Neutral business style. Concise and clear.
vocabulary choice: Should avoid using exactly the same words as in the instructions.
- You are Sales Manager at ABN Amro in Holland. You are planning a team-building seminar for your
sales team.
- Katie Whitely, a colleague at your company’s Head Office in Dublin, has given good reports about a
company called CFI Training.
- Write an email of 40-50 words to Katie:
 asking her to contact Kevin Lynch at CFI Training to find out if he could run the seminar for 30
people in July,
 informing her that you need his proposal by Friday,
 suggesting Kevin telephones you at 9 a.m. tomorrow to find out more.

Email 3 Team-building seminar

Team-building seminar for 30 sales staff in July

Could you contact Kevin Lynch at CFI Training to find

out if he could run the seminar? If he’s interested, can
you tell him I need a proposal urgently. I suggest he
telephones me at nine tomorrow to find out more about
the project.

Exercise 3. (BEC Vantage Masterclass, exercise 2, p. 45): Write a reply from Kevin Lynch to
the Sales Manager at ABM Hanro Holland.
Write an e-mail of 40-50 words to the Sales Manager:
 expressing your interest in running the seminar,
 explaining that you won’t be able to call at 9 a.m. – out of office all day – and suggesting
two other times, 6 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) or 9 a.m. Wednesday,
 asking her to inform you which time is better.

Dear Ms.Logan,

Further to Ms Withely’s invitation of 12 April, I would like to thank you for your interest in CFI Training.

It will be a pleasure to run the seminar. Unfortunately, (I’m afraid) I won’t be able to call tomorrow at 9.
Would either 6p.m tomorrow or 9a.m. Wednesday be convenient for/suit you?

I look forward to working with you/finalizing this very interesting project with you and ABM Hamro.

Many thanks and Kind Regards,

Kevin Lynch

Questa lettera è formale anche se non mi sono presentato perché altri lo hanno fatto al posto mio.

LEZIONE 6

CV: all’esame può chiederci di scrivere un cv per un internship. Es: Io ho un Ba in Digital Marketing, mentre
ero all’università ho seguito questi esami che sono rilevanti per la posizione: (inventa); posso anche dire
che mi sono occupato delle pagine social dell’uni -> inventare ma deve essere coerente sulla posizione.
Posso anche dire che ho scritto la mia thesis or essay su Social media democracy, trolling and information
bias. With special attention to hosting a blog, checking comments and adopting gatekeeping (Fonti
autorevoli) strategies.

I am confident that: sono sicuro che

Pag 10 es A

Regret è più formale rispetto a “I’m sorry to inform you that…” -> mettere nel glossario -> es: We regret to
inform you that… -> come contrario mettiamo delight o pleased (mi fa piacere che).

We regard to (da mettere sotto la colonna lemma) oppure mettere semplicemente regard e poi nella
colonna dell’esempio inserire -> I am writing with regard to your recent email.

About non va bene perché non si trova mai nelle business e-mail.

Further -> sinonimo more -> esempio: Should you need any further information…. -> questa frase è molto
formale perchè non c’è l’IF.

happy -> sinonimo glad -> es: we will be glad to assist you

I’m sure (informale) -> I am confident that (formale)

With reference to -> I am writing with reference to our order number GH674.

LEZIONE 7

Also, I might be not the perfect candidate, I am confident that I can provide you with…

Nel glossario bisogna mettere una parola singola, tranne per alcune eccezioni, per es: due to, look for, on
behalf of ecc
Salutations: importante essere specifici nell’indirizzare l’e-mail. Dear Sir – Dear Madam (NON
VANNO BENE)
Starting: We are writing (sbagliato) -> I am pleased to submit… -> thank you for your enquire of 23
of October, we are pleased to inform you that your order was dispatched yesterday.
I regret to inform you that.. ->mi dispiace di informarla che
I am delighted/pleased that your interview was successful…
I am writing to confirm receipt of your email -> es: Dear customer, Thank you for your email. You
will receive a reply within the next three working days. Kind Regards, the XXX team.

Dear Mr…
This is Silivia Cacchiani, Personal assistant to Fabio Biccherini, Senior Insurance Agent at Generali
S.p.A Reggio Emilia. I am writing with reference to property Comm342/21 located in Viale Allegri
12, Reggio Emilia.
We would be interested in a fixed term leasing for our local branch (5 years, renewable).
We would appreciate an appointment next week to inspect the premises and discuss your offer in
more detail.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Kind Regards,
Silvia Cacchiani
LEZIONE 8
Complain email
Dear Ms Cacchiani,
This is Tom Smith form the Enquiries Department at JohnLewis. Thank you for your email of 10
October. We are sorry to hear that your parcel has not been delivered yet. Unfortunately, due to
current Brexit policies, we are experiencing some delays in delivering orders to Europe.
Please accept my/our apologies for that.
Luckly, However, DHL has just informed us that the parcel has just arrived at their local branch and
will be delivered by 6pm today. If you have any other/ For any further queries, do not hesitate to
contact us/me.
Kind Regards,
Tom Smith
---
Tom Smith
Senior Manager
Enquiries and Complains
John Lewis, Sloane Square SW/13DL, London
Tomsmith
+442656254663

Customs: dogana