This article contrasts formal/ polite emails and more casual/ friendly ones, with examples phrases for starting, ending and the body of such emails. Examples of always given formal first and then casual, divided by a dash (–). General differences between formal and informal emailing language include:
- Longer sentences – Shorter sentences, including missing out words such as the subject and auxiliary verb (as in “Looking forward to hearing from you”)
- Longer words, including avoiding contractions like “I’m” – Abbreviations and idioms made from combinations of short words (“ATB” for “All the best”, “Give me a hand” instead of “assistance”, etc)
- Unlike speech (as in “Yours faithfully”) – Similar to speech (as in “See you then”)
- Titles and family names (“Dear Dr Jones”, etc) – First names (or even abbreviations of them, as in “Al” or “A”)
For lots of practice of this language, please see the book Teaching Emailing, available at https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/teaching-emailing/
How to start formal and informal emails
Standard opening greetings include:
- Dear Sir or Madam/ Dear Mr Smith/ Dear Ms Patel/ Dear Dr Harrison – Hi John/ Hi
If you don’t know someone’s title or gender, you may have to use “Dear + full name” (“Dear Kim Carling”) in formal emails, but title plus family name is better if possible. “Mrs” is rare nowadays, but can be used if you know the person chooses to use that title, e.g. from their business card or the bottom of their email to you.
Formal emails may also follow old-fashioned letter style of using a comma or colon after the opening greeting (“Dear Professor Jones,” or “Dear Professor Jones:”), but the modern style of no punctuation is more common and accepted by most people.
For informal emails, you may also see just first name (“John”), but this is not as friendly as ones with “Hi”.
For group emails, the standard formal and informal opening greetings are:
- To: All staff/ To: All…/ Dear all – Hi/ Hi everyone/ Hi guys
Formal and informal email opening lines
Informal emails often start with some kind of social language/ small talk. There are also formal equivalents, but these are less common because you are more likely to get straight down to business in such situations. Such phrases include:
- I hope this email finds you well./ I hope you are well. – How’s it going?/ How are you doing?/ How are things?
You can also make it more friendly by being more specific, in phrases like:
- I hope you had a good trip to… – How was your trip to…?
“How are you?” is a strange medium-level of formality which is neither formal nor friendly, and so is rare in emails. In contrast, the medium-level phrases for stating the topic of the email/ giving a reason for writing (“I’m writing to you about/ to/ because…”) are very common. Very formal and informal equivalents include:
- I am writing to you regarding…/ I am writing to you in connection with…/ I am writing in order to… – Writing about…/ Writing to…/ About…/ Just a quick one to say that…
If you have had other contact, it is often both friendlier and more polite to mention that contact first, with phrases like “Thanks for your email”. Very formal and casual versions include:
- Thank you for your email regarding…/ Thank you for your email of 7th – It was so nice to hear from you./ Great to hear from you./ Was such a lovely surprise to get your email./ Just read your email about…
More formal and informal versions of “Thanks for your quick reply” include:
- Thank you for your rapid response. – Wow! That was quick!
Similar phrases can also be used when the previous contact was something other than an email such as a face-to-face meeting, as in:
- It was a pleasure to meet you on…/ Thank you for finding the time to speak with me… – Was so nice to see you again on…
How to end formal and informal emails
If you need a reply, more formal and informal versions of “I’m looking forward to hearing from you” include:
- I look forward to hearing from you – Looking forward to hearing from you./ Write soon!
- I hope that is acceptable with you. – Sound okay?
Similar phrases can also be used about other kinds of future contact, as in:
- I look forward to meeting you then. – Looking forward to seeing you then./ Can’t wait to see you again!
For bigger requests, you can use:
- Thank you in advance. – Cheers.
If you don’t need a response, more formal and informal versions of “If you have any more questions, please contact me” include:
- If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me (at any time) – Any more questions, just let me know.
- If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. – If you need any more info, just drop me a line.
Formal and informal closing greetings
There are many fine graduations in formality and friendliness in closing greetings. “Best regards” is good for many business situations but too formal with colleagues, for long-term customers, etc, meaning friendlier ones are common. In contrast, in some situations such as job applications you might want to show that you can be even more formal than “Best regards”. The most formal and informal standard business phrases are:
- Sincerely/ Sincerely yours – Best wishes/ BW
The British equivalents of “Sincerely yours” are “Yours sincerely” (to go with “Dear Mr/ Ms/ Dr/ Professor….”) and “Yours faithfully” (to go with “Dear Sir/ Madam”). Even more casual endings include “Lots of love”, “Kisses”/ “XXX” and “Hugs and kisses”/ “XOXO”.
Signing off in formal and informal emails
If you think that the other person will want to write to you with your title and family name, it can be useful to end with your title in brackets after your full name, as in “Alex Case (Mr)”. In contrast, if you want to invite them to use just your first name in their next email, you can do that by just signing off with your first name (perhaps with your full name still under that in your automatic email signature). Although they are rare, even more formal and informal equivalents include family name with initials and shortened forms of your first name, as in:
- M.Case (Mr) – A/ Al
How to write the body of a formal and informal email
There aren’t huge differences in the structure and formatting of a formal email and an informal email, as both kinds need proper paragraphing (with one topic per paragraph, etc), and overusing numbering and bullet points isn’t good in any kind of email. There are huge differences in language, however. Paired formal and informal equivalents for the body of emails include;
- Please find attached… – Here is…/ Check out the attached…
- I would be grateful if you could…/ Could you possibly…? – Can you lend me a hand with…?/ Can you do me a favour and…?/ You couldn’t…, could you?
- Could I enquire wh…?/ I was wondering if you know… – You don’t happen to know…, do you?/ Any idea…?/ Can you fill me in on…?/ Got any info on…?
- It would be my very great pleasure to meet you at that time. – Great. See you then!
- Please accept our sincerest apologies for… – Soooo sorry about…
- We regret to inform you that… – Bad news, I’m afraid./ It’s a bit of a bummer, but…
- We are delighted to (be able to) announce that… – Great news! …
- We would like to inform you that…/ This is official notice that… – Just a quick heads-up on…
- Could I possibly check the progress of…? – Any progress with…?/ Getting on OK with…?
- It is our very great pleasure to invite you to…/ We would be delighted if you could attend… – Do you fancy…?