Unit 10 Writing e-mails
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 454.
| 1. Read the text. People have been writing business letters for a very long time so the style of writing them has developed slowly. Writing e-mails is relatively new. However, their use as a form of business correspondence is increasing at great speed. They are also written and sent much faster too. We do not say e-letter, or e-note or e-message. All correspondence sent electronically has the same name and therefore the differences in style has become less clear. Because of this there is a less accepted convention about how business e-mails should be written. This lesson looks at guidelines for the etiquette of writing e-mails. 2. Answer the following questions: 1. How many e-mails do you send a day? 2. How many do you receive? 3. What percentage of your e-mails are purely business transactions, and what percentage are quick messages to colleagues or friends? |
4. When you receive e-mails can you tell immediately if they are business letters?
5. When you write an e-mails do you think about a different style depending on who
you are writing to, or you write the same to everybody?
6. Do you read all the e-mails you receive?
7. What percentage do you delete without reading?
8. How often do you check your e-mails?
9. Do you read e-mails faster than you would a conventional letter arriving in an
envelope?
10. Do you sometimes receive e-mails that you don't need?
11. Do you send e-mails to the person sitting next to you?
3. Understanding jargon. What does the following mean?
| 1. cc 2. bcc 3. Format – plain text / html 4. A draft 5. Threads | 6. Forward 7. Insert a file 8. Signature 9. Abbreviations 10. Emoticons | ||
| 4. Are the following questions true or false? 1. Business e-mails should always be very formal. 2. Legal documents can be sent by e-mail. 3. Internal e-mails in general can be very informal. 4. Business e-mails don't need the traditional opening and closings 5. E-mails are confidential and private. | |||
5. Look at the e-mail below and answer the following questions:
1. Who is the e-mail to?
2. Who is it from?
3. Is there a signature?
4. Who has received a copy?
5. Is here a clear subject heading?
6. Why was it sent?
7. What action is required of the readers?
8. Is the tone appropriate?
The subject you give an e-mail is very important. People often receive many e-mails every day so it's important to give as much information as possible in the subject if you want your e-mail to be read.
The e-mail above did not have a clear subject heading. Look at the following headings and decide which one is best and why:
Visitor tomorrow
Regional Director visit 12/12/03
Mr Ahmed is visiting
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| Read the following extracts from a CV. Define the parts of the document they were taken from. | | | What subject heading could you give for the following e-mails? |