Starting and finishing emails
Here are some important points to consider when starting and finishing an email.
Formal or informal?
We write a formal email when we want to be polite, or when we do not know the reader very well. A lot of work emails are formal. We write informal emails when we want to be friendly, or when we know the reader well. A lot of social emails are informal. Here are some examples of formal and informal messages:
| Formal | Informal |
|---|---|
| An email to a customer A job application An email to your manager A complaint to a shop An email from one company to another company |
A birthday greeting to a colleague |
Before you start writing an email, decide if you want to write a formal email or an informal one.
Layout and punctuation
Starting an email: We normally write a comma after the opening phrase. We start a new line after the name of the person we’re writing to.
Finishing an email: We normally write a comma after the closing phrase. We start a new line to write our name at the end.
| Formal | Informal |
|---|---|
|
Dear Mr Piper, |
Hi Tim, |
Phrases for starting and finishing
Here are some phrases which we use for starting and finishing emails. We use these in formal and informal emails:
| Starting phrases | Dear Tim, Good morning Tim, |
| Ending phrases | Regards, With best wishes, With many thanks and best wishes, |
You also need to know which phrases to use only in a formal email or an informal one:
| Formal | Informal | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting phrases |
Dear Mr Piper, |
Hi Tim, Hi there Tim, Morning/Afternoon/Evening Tim, Hello again Tim, |
| Ending phrases | Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, Yours truly, |
Rgds, Cheers, Bye for now, See you soon, |
Hello Amanda
These are very useful ideas -- thanks for sharing them here!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello jmajo
'Kind regards' (notice the second word is not capitalised) is neutral in register, that is, neither formal nor informal. In many business contexts in the UK, it would be an acceptable way to end an email, unless the situation called for a very formal style.
It would sound strange if you used it with friends or family, but would be appropriate to use when writing to someone you don't know or don't know well.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello englishman332,
Both phrases are fine. 'I look forward to hearing from you soon' is more formal but it is quite normal.
There are variants for other situations:
I look forward to hearing from / seeing / speaking to / meeting / talking to you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team