Opening and Closing Formal and Informal Emails and Letters

Opening and closing formal and informal emails and letters

Brainstorm one standard/ neutral opening greeting, opening line, closing line and closing greeting into the middle column of the table below.

	Very formal	Standard/ Neutral	Informal
Opening greeting
Opening line
Closing line
Closing greeting
Name at the end

Compare your ideas with other students, then write more formal and informal versions in the other columns above.

Match the sections below to the boxes above. There are three sections which don’t fit anywhere because they are not correct in emails and letters.

Dear Sir or Madam                                                  Dear Prof. Smith/ Dr Smith/ Mr Smith/ Ms Smith

Dear all/ Hi everyone                                 Dear Steve/ Hi Steve

 

Steve                                                                         Hi                                                    (nothing)

 

To Steve                                                                     Dear Mr Steve                              Dear you all

 

To whom it may concern:                                        To: The marketing team

 

About…                                                        How’s it going?/ How are things?/ How’s life?

 

I am writing to you concerning/ with regards to/ regarding/ in connection with/ in order to…

Thank you for your interest in our company.                                   I hope you are well.

 

I am writing to you about/ to…                 Re:                      Thanks for your email yesterday.            

Thanks for your quick reply./ Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

 

Thanks for your quick replying.                                            I write to you about…

 

I look forward to see you soon.                             If you need any more questions, just let me know.

 

I look forward to hearing from you soon.                                          Thank you for your cooperation.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.                               Thanks in advance./ Thanks.

If you need any more information, please let me know.  Thanks again.

 

If you need any more info, just drop me a line.                 Looking forward to hearing from you.

Please get back to me asap.                                               See you then.

 

See you/ CU                                                                                         Cheers

 

Yours/ All the best/ Best regards/ Best wishes

 

Yours sincerely/ Yours faithfully/ Sincerely yours

 

A                                                                                                             (nothing)

 A. M. Case (Mr)

 

Alex                                                                                                        Alex Case

Which forms above are mainly used in letters? What other differences are there between letters and emails?