C1 Advanced English for Professional Emails

Hi, Rebecca. Based on what you have said, this sounds like a good idea for us.

I'm in. Let me know when we can start.

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Alex. Send. Wonderful. Okay.

Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on C1 Advanced English for Professional Emails.

In this lesson, we are going to look at seven different cause-and-effect words and phrases that you can use in professional settings.

This is ideal if you have an office job, if you work in a law firm, or if you work in a marketing department.

It doesn't matter if you have an office job where you are sending emails, dealing with clients, dealing with customers,

emailing your boss, emailing colleagues, coworkers. These are very useful phrases.

So, these all relate to cause-and-effect, and cause-and-effect is about giving reasons for something,

giving explanations for decisions, or for why something happened the way it did.

So, let's begin with "due to".

So, "due to" is linked to another phrase that we will get to at the end of this video.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel the order."

Now, this is a very common sentence, "due to unforeseen circumstances".

Unforeseen circumstances are circumstances that you couldn't predict.

Like, "Oh, that's a surprise. There was no way we could have prepared for that situation."

Okay, so "due to".

Let's continue with "given".

So, "Given what we know about our competition, it's probably best if we act quickly."

So, if something is given, we accept it.

It's like, "Okay, we know this is true."

So, "Given this information", because we know, we accept this information, we say this information is true.

"Given what we know", "Given what you said", "Given the cost of the product", for example.

"Given what we know about our competition, it's probably best if we act quickly in this situation."

Next, "seeing that".

So, if you use "seeing that", you're kind of looking at a situation, looking at a context, and say, "Okay, I see this."

"Seeing that your application is incomplete."

This means like, "I see that your application is incomplete."

"Seeing that your application is incomplete, we are unable to move forward with the process."

"To move forward" is a wonderful phrase as well in email contexts and in business meetings as well, and in academics, actually.

Well, more so in business settings, actually.

So, "to move forward with something" means to take the next step in a process.

So, if you work for a company that has a step-by-step process for how to process a new customer or a new client.

First, okay, we meet with them.

Then, they have to sign a paper.

Then, we send the invoice.

Then, when they pay the invoice, we send them the product that we promised them.

So, okay.

"Seeing that your application is incomplete, we are unable to move forward with the process."

Let's continue.

"Based on".

"We would need to re-evaluate the terms of the contract."

So, "to re-evaluate" is to look at the contract again.

Because you gave us, oh, this timeline.

A timeline is how long you have to deliver something, a product or a service.

Or, yeah, a product or a service.

"We would need to re-evaluate."

You can also say, "We need to re-evaluate the terms of the contract."

So, this is similar to "given".

"Based on this information."

This is the information we have.

This is what the foundation of my argument is.

This is what I am basing it on.

Next, "on account of", which is a nice fancy way to say "as a result of".

So, for example, "The event has been delayed on account of rain."

So, "as a result of rain."

That's why the event has been delayed.

And again, you can put this at the beginning of the sentence as well.

All of these you could, technically.

So, you can say, "On account of rain, the event has been delayed."

"As a result of rain, the event has been delayed."

It sounds a little better in the second part in this case, though.

So, "on account of", "as a result of".

"On account of your excellent", excuse me, I had to swallow.

"On account of your excellent performance review, we will be able to give you a 10% raise."

That's a big raise, actually, in most companies, 10%.

That would be awesome, actually.

Next, "since".

"Since we were unable to verify the customer's identity, we had to end the phone call."

So, here you are explaining your decision for ending a phone call with a client or a customer.

A customer in this case.

A customer to your boss or to your team leader, to your manager.

And they're going to say, "This customer called me and they were really upset."

Like, "Why did you not answer their questions?"

"Well, they failed the identity verification process when they called us."

So, you email your boss or you talk to them on the phone.

"Since we were unable to verify the customer's identity, we had to end the phone call."

Alright, so we have "due to", which is very similar to "as a result of", "on account of".

We have "given".

We have "seeing that".

We have "based on", "on account of", "as a result of".

And we have "since".

So, those are seven words and phrases that you can use to help your English emails sound more professional, more advanced.

And it's not even about advanced, just more professional.

This is how people write in professional settings with phrases and sentences like this.

"Unforeseen circumstances", right?

"Due to".

"Make an exception", for example, okay?

Alright, let's test your understanding of this material.

Now, if you are a beginner student, don't worry about this today, okay?

This is intended for advanced learners who are in a professional English environment,

who are writing emails, who are speaking on the phone,

who are giving presentations, who are giving meetings in English.

And this is to help you guys perform better in those situations.

And I hope that with the tools you have here, you will be able to do so.

If you want more email tools, check out the link that is attached to this video,

where you can find the resource for how to write a professional email in English.

It includes a lot of general information and specific information with set phrases

that I think you will find really handy.

So, thank you very much for watching again.

Check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

If you enjoyed this lesson, subscribe to my channel on YouTube,

like the video, share it, and good luck with your studies.