EASY EMAIL: Sending Good & Bad News

If you're like most people in the world, you're

probably writing a lot of email every day.

And when you're doing that, you may be facing one of two problems,

or perhaps both these problems. The first is usually that it's taking you too long.

You wish that you could do it faster. The

second one is even after it takes you some time,

you're not sure if it's even right. And

that is extremely worrisome and distressing,

right? You want to be sure that when you write

an email that it's correct. So in this lesson,

what I'm going to do is to show you a way that

you can write more quickly and correctly and

easily. The way we're going to do that is we're

going to look at certain expressions which you

can use in this case to convey or to give good

news and bad news. Okay? So let's look at what

they are. So I've divided the board in a certain

way because sometimes you're going to need to

write to a friend or maybe just a colleague at

work, and so you're going to be more informal.

And other times, you have to be more formal.

Maybe you're writing to a client, maybe you're

writing to a director or manager, so you want

to be more formal. So we're basically looking at

good news with a smiley face or bad news, okay,

with a sad face. And we're going to look at

how to communicate that informally and formally.

So let's get started. So let's suppose that

somebody is writing to you. Let's suppose it's

a teacher. Let's suppose that you appeared for

an exam and there was good news. All right? Good

news. Now, in this case, let's pretend that a

teacher is writing to you, a teacher you've known

well, so the teacher is going to be quite informal

with you, and maybe he or she would write, "I'm

happy to tell you that", okay? "I'm happy to tell

you that you passed the exam." Okay? The good

news is what? You passed the exam. But what's the

expression that can be used? "I'm happy to tell

you that." Okay? Now, the expressions that I'm

giving you here, of course, is this the only way

to say that? Of course not. There are a million

ways that you can say the same thing, but I want

to make your life easier so you don't have to

think of the million ways. You just learn one or

two ways or four ways, and you can be sure that

you'll always be right. Okay? So, let's go over it

again. The informal way to communicate good news,

"I'm happy to tell you that you passed the exam."

Now, let's pretend you got the same information

from the actual organization from which you did

the exam. They're not your friends. They're going to write to you in a more formal way,

so they may say, "I'm pleased", or probably

if it's from an organization, "We are pleased

to inform you that." So, what changed? "Happy"

changed to "pleased", and "tell you" changed to

"inform you" because this is more formal language.

We could also say, "We're delighted to inform you

that you passed the exam." See the difference?

"I'm happy to tell you that you passed the exam."

"We're delighted to inform you that you passed the exam." That's it.

Okay? Those are the key words you have to learn.

Now, let's look at how we can use similar words

for passing on or communicating bad news. Okay?

So, let's suppose that somebody didn't pass the

exam. So, then the teacher writes to that person

and says, "I'm sorry to tell you that you did not

pass the exam." Or the more formal way to say

that would be what? "We regret to inform you

that you did not pass the exam." Again, same...

The same vocabulary is happening here. Right?

"Tell" becomes "inform", and here, "I'm sorry",

which is the informal way that we communicate

that, becomes "I regret". "I regret" means "I'm

sorry", it's just a more formal expression.

And again, if you're writing from an organization,

then you might want to say "we". Sometimes,

if you're writing from an organization, you can

still say "I" because you're signing it at the

bottom. Okay? So, let's run through that again.

"I'm happy to tell you that you passed the exam."

"We're pleased to inform you that you passed the exam."

"I'm sorry to tell you that you passed... That you did not pass the exam."

"We regret to inform you that you did not pass

the exam." Okay? So, these are the expressions.

Now, we're going to practice using them in different situations. Let's do that next.

Okay. So now, together, we're going to take these

six situations where we are communicating either

good news or bad news, and either in an informal

way or a formal way. To make your life a little

bit easier, I wrote the basics of those expressions

that you can use. Okay? So, let's look at what

they are again, and then you'll see which one

to use in which context. So, if it's good news,

we can either say "I'm happy to tell you" or

"We're pleased to inform you". If it's bad news,

"I'm sorry to tell you" or "I regret to inform

you". Okay? So, they're up here, you can look

at them, and if you need to as we're working

through them, if you're not sure what the answer

is, just pause the video, think about it. You

could even pause it right now, write out your

answers or say your answers if you want, or else

do it together with me. Okay? I'll help you.

All right, so let's look at the first situation.

"Your loan has been approved." Okay, so is that

good news or bad news, first of all? That is

usually good news. All right? So, we're in the

good news area, and the way it has been written,

do you feel this is formal or informal? It's

probably more formal. So, we would say something

like, "I am", what? "Pleased to inform you that

your loan has been approved." We are pleased

to inform you that your loan has been approved.

Okay? That's good news in a formal way. Let's

look at the second one now. "You got the job."

Okay, good news or bad news? Good news. Does it

sound formal or informal? It sounds informal,

right? So, let's say your mom or your brother

or someone is writing to you and saying, "Hey,

I got the letter." Guess what? "I'm happy to tell

you, you got the job." Okay? Or a colleague is

telling you, "You got the job." "I'm happy to

tell you, you got the job." Okay? All right.

Next, number three. "Your flight has been cancelled."

Good news or bad news? Probably bad news for most

people if they have plans, right? And this letter

is probably coming from the airline itself, so

it's going to be formal or informal? Formal. So,

let's look at the bad news and formal. So,

they would probably write something like, "We

regret to inform you that your flight has

been cancelled." Okay? See how easy that was?

Basically, you have to think, am I writing good

news or bad news? Is it an informal communication

or is it something more formal? Okay? Good. Let's look at number four. "I cannot attend

the conference." Okay? This is in a business

context, and it's probably, let's say, bad news.

All right? So, you're being pretty formal, so

again, you would say, "I regret to inform you

that I cannot attend the conference." Okay? Do

you see how just learning a few short phrases

can help you to communicate so many different

things? Okay? Whether you're working in any...

really any department, but especially in customer

service type of situations and contexts when

you're communicating with customers, with

clients, and you're sending a lot of emails,

this can save you so much time. Okay? But really, it applies to anyone who is writing

and communicating any kind of good news or bad news. Next, let's look at number five.

"You have received a full scholarship to

university." Good or bad? That is good news,

of course. So... And it's a letter, let's say, that's coming from the university,

so what would they write? They would say, "We

are pleased or even delighted..." Remember the

other word we had learned? "We are delighted

to inform you that you have received a full

scholarship to university." Okay? See how that

works? So easy. Okay. And the last one here,

"Your order has been delayed." Okay, good or bad news? Probably bad news.

And is it formal or informal? It is formal.

So, we come to the bad news section. All right?

And what would you say? Or what would they

write? Or if you have to be in that position to

communicate that to a customer, "I regret to

inform you" or "We regret to inform you that

your order has been delayed." Okay? So, this is

the way to master your email writing by dividing

it up into different contexts. I will probably

be recording other lessons similar to these

that are easy email English. All right? And then, by learning these expressions,

it will shorten the time that it takes you to

write, you'll write correctly, and you'll write

confidently because you know it's right. Okay?

All right. So, these were a few tips that I gave

you, and just those few tips can make such a

big difference to your everyday life. Similarly,

I've actually created another course, an online

course called Correct Your English Errors in 10

Minutes a Day. And in this course, just like this,

in short sessions, short lessons, we correct more

than 150 different mistakes in grammar,

vocabulary, writing, pronunciation, and so on. You

might want to check that out. I'll put a link in

the lesson description. Okay? And don't forget to

go to www.engvid.com in order to do a quiz on

this because you've done it now, you've practiced

it. I'm sure you'll probably use it in the course

of this week, or maybe just tomorrow, or if you're

watching from work in case, maybe you'll try it

right now. Okay? But it's always good to practice

a little bit more and be sure that you've understood it. Okay? So, go to our quiz at

www.engvid.com and make sure that you get a

fuller understanding of it and good practice in

it. Okay? And don't forget to subscribe to my

YouTube channel and ring the bell so you will

be notified every time you get... I get... Every

time I release and you can receive my new lesson.

Okay? Thanks very much for watching. All the best with your English. Bye for now.