Greetings & Closings for FORMAL Email Messages in English

[Subject:] Upcoming absence and school work

Read the message with me.

Is the relationship between the sender and the recipient clear?

It should be.

This is a parent writing to a teacher,

and so that's why the tone is more formal.

What exactly is making it formal?

Well, there are no contractions.

There are full forms used.

Also, you'll see more polite and formal grammar structures.

And Christina uses higher level vocabulary.

One thing Christina still needs to do is add in an appropriate greeting and closing.

"Hello" could work.

So could "Dear."

Christina could end with "Sincerely,"

but I think "Regards," adds a bit of warmth.

Have you ever written a message like this?

Let's talk more about formal greetings and closings.

Email is used at home, at work, at school...

If you're writing to a teacher or other school staff member,

you'll likely need a more formal tone, as you saw in the model.

Here are some possible ways to start a formal email.

Greetings with colons are very formal.

They're used in traditional business letter writing,

but they aren't used often in email.

"Dear Sir or Madam" is very formal.

We use it in business email when we don't know

who will be reading the message.

But if at all possible, try to get the name of the receipient

and use it in your greeting.

Another option is "To whom it may concern:"

This is very impersonal and not always appropriate.

I might use this greeting if I were writing to a department

of a larger organization.

Let's look at a model.

[Subject:] Missing sign on Elm Street

Mr. Lee does not know who is on the receiving end.

He's just sending this message to the Department of Public Works in his town.

An appropriate closing is "Sincerely."

It's not the friendliest closing,

but it's very polite and it's appropriate for this message.

Let me show you some other closings used in formal email.

Here are a couple tips on adding a signature

to a formal email message.

First, use your full name, especially if it's the first time you're contacting someone.

Second, consider using a default signature.

If you want to include contact information and links,

the default signature is a great option because this information

will be added in all outgoing messages.

That's all for now.

Thanks for watching and happy studies!

Remember to visit www.englishwithjennifer.com for more practice.