Writing Emails In Preparation For Meetings Lesson Plan Template (Page 3 of 4) in pdf

Now complete the table with the underlined words and phrases from the emails in 1.

Formal

Informal

Read these people’s ideas about writing emails. Then complete sentences 1–6 below with the fi rst

name of the correct person.

I think it’s really important to write a short but very clear message in the subject line. That way the reader gets the key point

of your message the moment he opens the mail. It also means that the reader can quickly ﬁ nd the mail again if necessary.

Some people leave the subject line blank. That’s not very professional in my opinion.

Tony Davey

In my opinion the most important thing is to be as brief as possible. It’s good as well if the reader can reply with just yes or

no answers. So I never write questions like: ‘Can you give me an idea of what you think about possible dates?’ I always write

short questions like: ‘How about Friday at 9am for the meeting?’

Jeremy Rooster

For me the most important thing is to make the text easy to read. I use headings and a very clear font. I also underline key

words or phrases. It’s important as well to use paragraphs to separate key points. I also think that it’s better and clearer if an

email only deals with one main point.

Olga Birch

I like to make my emails fun – even the business ones. I write in a chatty way as if I were speaking to the person. I also use

lots of symbols to liven things up a bit. For example: ‘That was a great idea!

’ I sometimes write key words in capital

letters, but I know that annoys some people.

Salina Crouch

I think a lot of people send emails without checking them ﬁ rst. This can lead to problems and some very embarrassing

situations. I always proofread what I’ve written and always have one last look before I press the ‘send’ button. I also think

that it’s important not to send an email if the message is very private, because it’s easy for the person receiving it to forward

it to somebody else by mistake. Also, if you forward an email I think it’s essential to give a reason why you’re forwarding.

Marmen Hofmeister

1 ________ likes emails to be like informal conversations.

2 ________ likes to write very short emails.

3 ________ likes to use lots of emoticons in emails to liven them up.

4 ________ likes to have a very clear layout that is easy to read quickly.

5 ________ likes to make sure that the subject of the email jumps off the page.

6 ________ likes to read through emails very carefully to check for mistakes before sending them.

For more on opinions, see Unit 12.

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Unit 3 Writing emails in preparation for meetings

Writing Emails In Preparation For Meetings Lesson Plan Template Page 3