English Writing for Specific Purposes

Ziqin Gong

March 23, 2023

Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Lecturer info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 What this course brings to me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Fundamentals 2
2.1 Factors considered when writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3 Email writing 4
3.1 Format of emails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 Proper email etiquette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3 Subject lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.4 Greetings (salutations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.5 Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.6 Sign-off / Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.7 Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.8 Purpose of email writing – Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Lecture 1: Introduction Thu Feb 16 2023 16:29

1 Introduction
1.1 Lecturer info
• Name: Xinghua Liu
• Mobile: 13764535379
• Email: liuxinghua@sjtu.edu.cn

1.2 What this course brings to me?

• Pratical writing skills.
• Soft skills:
– Critical thinking.

1
 Lecture 1: Introduction

– Reflective thinking.

1.3 Evaluation
• In-class performance (attendance, active participation in discussions, presentations,
peer feedback): 10%
• Written exercises (plus peer feedbacking): 40%
• Final paper exam (in Week 16, two writing tasks): 50%

2 Fundamentals
2.1 Factors considered when writing
a u d i e n c e <−−> c o n t e n t <−−> p u r p o s e
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v
tone

2.1.1 Purposes of writing

• To entertain (narrative or poetry)
• To inform (expository)
– To explain an issue, a situation, or point of view
– To share facts about a particular subject
– To guide the reader to a clear understanding of the subject
• To persuade (persuasive)
– To change the reader’s mind or attitude
– To influence the reader’s thinking

Persuade Auxiliary verbs.

Inform Factual words, like numbers, figures.

Entertain Literary devices.

2.1.2 Audience and formality

The kind of audience we are writing to affects the level of formality of our writing.
The formality increases in the examples below:
• Hi, Peter, fancy meeting you here.
• Good morning, Mr. Brown. How are you?

2 FUNDAMENTALS 2
 Lecture 2: Fundamentals

• How do you do, Mr. Peter Brown?

The same as below:
• After his dad died, Peter had to get another job.
• On the decease of his father, Mr. Peter Brown was obliged to seek alternative
employment.

Lecture 2: Fundamentals Thu Feb 23 2023 16:00

Nominalization turn verbs into nouns by adding suffixes like ‘-tion’, which will increase
formality.

Different level of formality

• Frozen style
• Formal style
• Consultative style
• Casual style
• Intimate style

2.1.3 Tones in writing

What is tone? All writers have some perspective or attitude such as respecting or hating
something.
Tone is the expression of the author’s attitude and feeling about a subject. A writer’s tone
reveals the attitude he or she has toward a subject.

How many tones? Common tone words: cynical, serious, melancholy, critical, satiric;
comic, objective, formal, informal, ironic; amusing, farcical, intense, humorous, detached;
tragic, irreverent, reverent, impassioned, mocking, ...

How to realize tones? How is tone realized by the use of language? Tone is expressed
through the words and details the writer selects, especially the descriptive words (adj., adv.,
figures of speech) used in a passage.
Some tone words:
• Objective:
– Objective tone is impartial.
– It does not show any feelings for or against a topic; therefore, it is unbiased
or neutral.
– The details are mostly facts.
• Subjective:
– Subjective tone is personal, biased, emotional, and often informal.
– Fiction and personal essays are usually written with a subjective tone.

2 FUNDAMENTALS 3
 Lecture 3: Email writing

– A subjective tone uses words that describe feelings, judgements.

• Solemn:
– The writer uses formal English and his or her attitude is grave or sad.

Lecture 3: Email writing Thu Mar 2 2023 16:00

3 Email writing
3.1 Format of emails
• Header
– From
– To
– Subject
• Greeting
• Message body
• Closing
• Signature

3.2 Proper email etiquette

• Use your college or university email. This marks the message as legitimate and not
spam.
• Don’t use an inappropriate email user name. Try your own name or company name.
• Don’t use an inappropriate email address from which to send your email.

3.3 Subject lines

Email subject lines are like newspaper headlines: the purpose of the email.
• be as specific as possible
• never vague
• think from the receiver’s perspective
Sometimes we can use the subject line to convey the complete message. Just end with EOM,
then the receiver needs not to check the body of the email.

Example. Oct 10 lesson shifted to Oct 17. Usual time and place. EOM

3.4 Greetings (salutations)

• Address someone. It’s OK to use dear though in Chinese it involves intimacy.
– Dear + title + family name

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 Lecture 3: Email writing

– Dear + full name : business

– Dear + first name : informal, close
– Dear + family name : inappropriate
• Pay attention to titles. Try the highest possible title.
– Academics: Dr., Professor (note the difference between professions and titles,
e.g. teacher is not a title)
– Non-academic:
∗ Mr.
∗ Mrs.
∗ Ms.
∗ Miss
• Avoid problems when it is not clear which is the recipient’s surname. The best solution
is to address with full name.
• Avoid problems when it is not clear if the recipient is male or female.
• If you don’t know the name of the person you are addressing, or if the email addresses
a diverse group, try:
– To whom it may concern,
– Dear Sir or Madam,
– or those more specific:
∗ Dear members of the selection committee,
∗ Dear session organizers,
∗ Dear product manager,

3.5 Body
3.5.1 Letter formats
Block format
• All text is aligned to left.
• Paragraphs are split by one blank line.
• No indentation.

3.5.2 Body paragraphs

The first sentence, known as the opening sentence, can be a greeting if the situation allows
it.

Example. • I hope all is well with you.

• Thank you for your prompt/timely response.

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 Lecture 4: Email writing

Next, remind the recipient who you are when previous contact has only been brief. Give a
short introduction if it is the first time you write to him.

Example. My name is Ziqin Gong and you may remember that ...
Then, the reason for your email should be clearly stated as early as possible in the email.

Example. • I am interested in applying for the post of junior scientist advertised on

your website.
• I would like to apply for a placement in your summer school.
Ensure that recipients in different time zones will interpret dataes and times correctly.
Ensure that your email ends positively. Those readers that read the whole message will
often remember most what they read last.

Example. • It will be great to see you at the conference.

• Thank you so much for all your help with this.
• I really appreciate your time.

Lecture 4: Email writing Mar 9 2023 16:00

3.6 Sign-off / Closing
Formal ones in the ascending order of formality:
• All the best.
– the least formal one among these formal ones
• Best regards.
• Kind regards.
– These two are business-like.
– Note that ‘Regards’ is more of an informal one.
• Yours sincerely.
• Yours faithfully.

Less formal
• Talk soon.
• Cheers.
• See you.
• Thanks.
Tip

Not sure about the social distance? Always try ‘Best regards’.

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 Lecture 4: Email writing

3.7 Signature
The main purpose of signature is to propose yourself. You can always put these in your
signature:
• Contact info
– Name, business address, phone number.
– A legal disclaimer if required by your company.
• Titles
• Publications
• and more

3.8 Purpose of email writing – Request

Like confirmation, notification and most importantly request.
The most common type of emails that academics send is probably requests. To achieve your
aims, remember:
• Make your requests clear and concise, as well as quick and easy for your recipient
to answer.
– Lay out your request clearly. Avoid blocks of text.
∗ Structured request allows recipient to respond easily.
– Avoid including too many topics in one email. Try multiple emails.
• Adopt a friendly and positive approach. Don’t sound too direct.
– Avoid using imperative moods. Use formulaic expressions.
– Choose proper modals. Avoid boosters like must, should, have to but use hedge
to soften the tune like would, might, may, could.
– Use I often instead of you.
– Always appreciate the recipient’s time before the signature.
∗ May I thank in advance for your ...

Give deadlines properly Give specific dealines rather than say ‘as soon as possible’ ‘at
your ’. Also, given them a reasonably short deadline and not too many options.
If you are the receiver of a deadline or if you simply wish to establish your own deadline,
you can use similar phrases.

Example. > Here is a first version of the manuscript. Please read and check everything.
Specially you need to work on the introduction and prepare Fig 1.
Here is a first version of the manuscript. Please could you read and check everything. In
particular, it would be great if you could complete/revise the introduction and also prepare
Figure 1.
> Please send it back to me by the end of this month if possible.

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 Lecture 4: Email writing

Given that our deadline is the first week of next month, I would be grateful to receive your
revisions by the end of this month.
> Could you also suggest some referees that may help review the paper?
The editor might ask us to suggest some referees to review our paper, so if you have any
ideas please let me know.

Be polite as well as explicit

Compliment helps
Useful phrases

• I know it is asking a lot but if you could ..., I would really appreciate it and
I am sure it would make a significant difference to my chances of ...

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