How to Write Effective Emails in English - Avoid 12 Mistakes

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English  with Jennifer. Part of my daily routine  

seven days a week includes time for  responding to public comments and email.  

If you write email even half as much as I do,  you'll want to be sure you're writing the best  

messages possible to be effective and efficient.  Email requires clear communication. If you aren't  

clear, you can create a misunderstanding. An  appropriate tone is also important because  

sounding too formal or informal isn't good for  any kind of relationship. So, let's talk about  

12 common mistakes people make when they write  email, and I'll teach you how to avoid them.

In an earlier lesson on writing email, I shared  five basic don'ts. Let's quickly review those.  

One. Don't forget to write  a subject line. Be concise.

Two. Don't write your whole  message in CAPS (capital letters).

Three. Don't write in all lowercase letters.

Four. Don't start each sentence on a new line.

Five. Don't write your whole message  as one paragraph. Use line breaks.

Don't overuse CAPS or other formatting, like  underlining, for emphasis. If something is urgent,  

you can sparingly use boldfacing or italics,  or you can simply express the urgency or the  

importance in words. Check out these examples. In  the subject line, you can simply use title case:  

we capitalize the first word, the last word,  and all important words like nouns, verbs,  

adjectives, adverbs, and, of course,  proper nouns. Some people choose to  

use sentence case. That means you only  capitalize the first word and proper nouns.  

And don't feel the need to use exclamation points  in the subject line, especially in business email.

In this sentence, boldfacing is used to highlight  the date. That's okay. In this sentence,  

italics are used to emphasize "not." Do not  share these internal links. That's all right.

In this example, we're using words to  express the urgency, and that's sufficient.

Here again, we rely on words to  express the urgency and importance.

Don't write email like you talk in conversation.  

Be more direct and concise. Take a look at these  models. Let's see how they can be improved.

Here are my suggestions. Hi Kyle. When you have  a minute, you can check out the attached PDF of  

my services. Please reach out if you'd like  to talk more or if you have any questions.

We can definitely make this  more direct and concise.  

Hi. Yes, tomorrow is fine. What time is good for  you? I can meet in the AM or PM. Let me know.

Don't write business email like you text a friend.  

Business email is often friendly, but you  can still maintain a professional tone.  

How would you change these statements? Make  them more appropriate for business email.

Hi Gwen. I got the document. Thanks. I'll read  it and return a signed copy as soon as possible.  

Best, Teresa

Hi Gwen. I read the document, and  I have a question about item 5.  

It asks for an employee code. I don't know where  to find that. Please advise. Thanks, Teresa

Don't write every email like a formal  business letter, especially in a long thread.  

Email needs to be efficient. Don't waste  time on long greetings and closings  

when the back-and-forth  within a thread is very fast.

Let's look at this thread. It's fairly typical.  An early message uses the standard structure.  

There's a greeting, the body,  followed by the closing and signature.  

The reply uses the same format: greeting,  body, closing signature. The next reply,  

which came soon after, omits the greeting and  closing. The signature is there by default.

Don't overuse or misuse punctuation marks.  

Let me quickly quiz you. How  should we end every sentence?

With a period. And how should a question end?  With a question mark. What's this called?

An exclamation point. It usually  expresses strong emotion.

Okay. Let's look at a message and see if  the punctuation marks are used well or not.

So, the first thing I see here is the lack of  any line breaks. Let's separate the greeting  

and the signature. The most common way  to punctuate a greeting is with a comma.  

Sentences need to start with capital letters, and  we're not going to join sentences with commas.  

A sentence needs to end with a period. Be sure  you know how to identify a sentence. If it's a  

question, end with a question mark. In business  email, don't try to combine a question mark with  

an exclamation point. And if it's not a  real question, it should end with a period.

To review standard use of  punctuation in American English,  

check out my writing skills playlist. I'll  put the link in the video description.

Don't repeat what isn't necessary. Even formal  business email can be concise. Polite requests,  

for example, might use longer structures, but  that doesn't mean a lot of repetition is needed.  

Watch my lesson on ellipsis to gain a better  understanding of when words can be omitted.

Here we have a message from Max.  He's writing to an admissions office.  

Let's read his email. Hello. I am applying for  the MBA program, and I plan to complete some  

of my coursework remotely. The website does not  clearly state which courses are offered online.  

There are a number of electives I am  specifically interested in taking,  

so I would like to confirm in advance if they  are only offered on campus. As I am applying for  

the MBA program and the deadline is next week, I  wish to clarify my options as soon as possible. It  

is my hope that you will be able to provide this  clarification so that I will be able to meet the  

deadline and submit my application on time. Would  you please tell me if the courses listed below  

are offered online or if they are at least offered  online for some semesters if not for others?  

I would greatly appreciate the clarification.  I look forward to your response regarding the  

clarification of these courses in which I have  expressed interest. Thank you. Best regards, Max.  

That was quite wordy. I think it's  fair to say it's rather verbose.  

All right. Let's help Max and reduce  repetition. I think we can start  

right around here. We don't need to say  we're applying again. Take it out, Max.  

All right. Yes, you want to clarify, so don't  ask for clarification. Let's take that out.

Now, if you're concerned about the deadline,  it's obvious. Right? So, do we need to explain  

why you're concerned about the deadline? No.

You don't need to talk about the deadline twice.

Let's just take that all out.  It's all understood. It is clear.

We can certainly reduce this. Let's make it  shorter, more concise. How about "at any time"?

Okay. This is all polite, but this final part is  way too long. You just want to look forward to the  

response. Perhaps we can combine this appreciation  with the "thank you." Here's my suggestion.  

How about, "Thank you in advance"? That's  what we need to say. Thank you in advance  

for your time and assistance.

Then we'll delete this one, and it looks good.

Of course, Max needs to make his list. Let's  

make space for that, so max does  not forget to list the courses.

Now let's read the message aloud to see how  well it flows. Hello. I am applying for the  

MBA program, and I plan to complete some of  my coursework remotely. The website does not  

clearly state which courses are offered online.  There are a number of electives I am specifically  

interested in taking, so I would like to confirm  in advance if they are only offered on campus.  

As the deadline is next week, I wish to  clarify my options as soon as possible.  

Would you please tell me if the courses listed  below are offered online at any time? I look  

forward to your response. Thank you in advance  for your time and assistance. Best regards, Max

Don't forget the need for  some pleasantries and context.  

You can't always assume that your reader  knows exactly what you're referring to.

Check out other lessons I have on  including pleasantries and email.  

I also teach formal and  informal greetings and closings.

Let's jump into this message and see how it  sounds. Hello Mia. Re: 33 Cherry Street. These  

are the days I am available to view the property:  Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Best, Adam Rush.  

Well, Adam, you might be rushing. First of all,  I'm not sure if he knows Mia or if Mia knows him.  

I'm going to suggest that Adam add a bit more  context. He can start in the subject line. What  

is the request? Let's be more specific. It's a  request to view a property, specifically 33 Cherry  

Street. Mia must be a listing agent, a real estate  agent. If this is the first message to Mia, he  

can show a little more respect. Let's write full  sentences. Make it sound nice. He's asking for a  

favor. He wants to see that house. I noted that  you are the listing agent for 33 Cherry Street.  

He can explain what he wants and why. I  missed the open house earlier this week.  

The request now. Would it be possible to schedule  a showing? These are the days I'm available to  

view the property. I think one nice thing to add  here would be "thank you." Thank you in advance.

All right. That looks better, Adam. Oh  let's add one more thing. Have a good day!  

Since you're asking for something, be nice.  Remember not to rush so much that you forget  

context and pleasantries.

We'll end here. Please like the  video if you found it useful.  

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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