[General] Introductory Line in a Informal Letter/Email

[anupumh]

Hi,

While writing an infromal letter or email, which line or statement can be used as a means to ask the well being of the other person before we move to the body of the letter/email and talk about the actual thing?

Some examples which I have come across...

Hi John,

Hope this mail finds you in the best of moods...
Hope this letter finds you in the pink of health..
Hope you are doing ok...


What would be appropriate statements for this scenario...?

Thanks

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by anupumh

Hi,

While writing an infromal letter or email, which line or statement can be used as a means to ask the well being of the other person before we move to the body of the letter/email and talk about the actual thing?

Some examples which I have come across...

Hi John,

Hope this mail finds you in the best of moods...
Hope this letter finds you in the pink of health..
Hope you are doing ok...


What would be appropriate statements for this scenario...?

Thanks

The first two sound overly formal to me, but may be OK in India.

To my friends, I tend to write:
How are you going?
How have you been (lately)?
How's things?

[anupumh]

Originally Posted by Raymott

The first two sound overly formal to me, but may be OK in India.

To my friends, I tend to write:
How are you going?
How have you been (lately)?
How's things?

Alright, so had it been a formal or semi formal letter or email, then what would you right?

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by anupumh

Alright, so had it been a formal or semi formal letter or email, then what would you right?

For a formal letter, I would not ask about their health at all.
It's very hard to generalise.
Perhaps:
I trust you have been well. (I don't 'hope' it, since I really don't know them well enough to care)
It's a long time since we've spoken. I'm writing now to ... (This reminds the person that you dealt with them before)
You will recall that we collaborated on a successful venture together some time back. I now write to ...
I see you have come up in the world since we last met ... (to an old friend).

But really, it depends on your personality, and also what you want from the other person. What works for me might not work for you.