E-MAILMany people enjoy sending an receiving e-mail, especially if they share a common interest. Writing e-mails to a friend in English allows you as much time as you need to write the message and look up any words or grammar that you don't know. If you are paying for each minute that you are connected to the internet, you may want to write e-mails while you are not connected and then connect just to type the message and send it.E-mails are usually written in a less formal style than letters. It is common to start an e-mail with the name of the person you are writing to, without starting with the word "Dear". The following are examples of some appropriate ways to start and end an e-mail:
(1) Writing to your partnerStart: Use the person's first name or nicknameEnding: "Take care", or "Love", or "Thinking of you"Signature: Your first name, or nickname
(2) Writing to a friendStart: Use the person's first nameEnding: "Best wishes", or "Yours", or "Take care"Signature: Your first name
(3) Writing to someone in your own companyStart: Use the person's first name (in a few companies you might need to be more formal, but this is rare in the UK)Ending: "Regards", or "Best wishes"Signature: Your first name and last name, and below this your job title and department, and phone number (or extension)
(4) Writing to someone in another organisation or someone in a formal position of responsibilityStart: Use the person's title (eg: Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr) and surname (eg: Smith), or just "Sir/Madam" if you don't know the nameEnding: "Regards"Signature: Your first name and last name (you might add your title after this in brackets if you want to make it clear if you are a man or woman). Below this your job title (if appropriate) and contact details (you may want to include your telephone number or address)
BLOG
A blog (an abbreviation of the word "weblog") is a website on which you can publish your messages and photos. If you are studying abroad in the UK, you might use a blog to create a diary about your life in the UK. Write in English (or both in English and in your home language), so that you can use this as a way of improving your writing skills. Note that the blog is not private, so do not write things there which you do not want others to read. A basic blog can be created for free, and is very easy to update. The most popular service is: http://www.blogger.com/.
BUSINESS LETTER
Keep business letters which you receive in English (for example from a school or company) and try to learn from heir style. Note that there are some differences in style between letters written in American English and British English. For example, the way of writing dates is different (the order is day, month, year in Britain, eg 1/2/2002 or 1 Feb 2002 or 1st February 2002; month, day, year in the US, eg 2/1/2002 or Feb 1 2002 or February 1st 2002), and the way of starting and ending the letter may also be different.You should normally type a business letter, but a letter which is written neatly by hand is also acceptable.
Writing the letter by hand may be better to write by hand in some less formal situations, for example if you are applying for a part-time job in a shop or if you want to be an au pair and are writing to the children's parents.At the top of the letter, write your address (using English letters) on the right hand side. You do not need to put your name at the top of this address, because it will already be written at the bottom of the letter (see below). As well as your postal address, you may want to include your telephone or fax number (if you are not in the same country as the person to whom you are writing, you should use the international way of writing this, including the country code: see Life/Telephone). You may also want to include your e-mail address.Write the full name and address of the person to whom you are writing on the top left hand side of the letter.On the right hand side, underneath your own address, write the date on which you wrote the letter. To avoid any possible confusion, it may be better to write the address in full (for example: 1st February 2002).In Britain, when you do not know the name of the person to whom you are writing (or if you know the name but you want to write in a very formal style), you normally start a business letter with the words "Dear Sir". "Sir" is a word for a man, but it is understood that it is just a convention to use this and that the letter may be read by either a man or a woman. You can write "Dear Sir/Madam" instead if you prefer, but it is not common to write "Dear Madam" unless you are certain that the letter will be read by a woman. You should end the letter with "Yours faithfully" ("Faithfully yours" is only used in American English).If you know the person's name (for example, Mr Green), you should normally start a business letter with "Dear Mr Green". If you are writing to a woman who is married (for example, Mrs Green) you should start the letter "Dear Mrs Green". If you are writing to a woman who is not married and refers to herself as Miss Green, you should start the letter "Dear Miss Green". If you are not sure if the woman is married or not, it is more polite to write "Dear Ms Green" (Ms can be an abbreviation for either Mrs or Miss). You should end the letter with "Yours sincerely".Note that you shouldn't add a full stop at the end of abbreviated words if the last letter of the abbreviation is the same as the last letter of the full word. For example, you should write Mr Smith (short for Mister) or Dr Smith (short for Doctor), but Prof. Smith (short for Professor) - there is a full stop in the last example because "f" is not the last letter of the word "professor".When you start the letter, you may want to put a special heading to make the subject of the letter clear, especially if your letter is quite long. It is common to start this "Re: " ("re" introduces the subject: it means "about") and then give a one-line summary of the subject (for example: "Re: application for place on Business English course"). You should mention the last letter you have received, including the date written on the letter and the reference number if there is one (for example: "Thank you for your letter of 2nd February, reference MC/0275"). If you are sending some documents with your letter, you should mention this (for example: "Please find enclosed my completed application form", or "Please find attached a copy of my CV"), and you should write "Enc:" and a list of these documents at the bottom of the page (after your signature).It is better to sign the letter personally as well as typing your name underneath. Your signature proves that you wrote the letter, and also makes it a little bit more personal. You can sign using your own language, but do remember to write your name clearly underneath your signature using English letters.If you are writing about business in an e-mail, the style used is often less formal, although you can follow the formal rules above if you wish. For example, it is common to start the message without the word "Dear", or to use the person's first name (if someone writes to you in this way, it is normally alright to reply in the same style). A less formal ending would be just "Yours", or something like "Regards" or "Best wishes". As a signature, it is common just to type your name.
