Useful Email Phrases ( FORMAL WRITING)

GREETINGSFormal Dear Sir/ Madam, Dear Sir or Madam, To whom it may concern: (especially AmE) Dear Mr/ Ms Jones, Dear Dr Smith,REASON FOR WRITING / REPLYING

Formal

I am writing to make a reservation/ to apply for the position of/ to confirm my booking/ to ask for further information about I am writing with regard to the sale of / to the complaint you made on 29 FebruaryThank you for your e-mail of 29 February regarding the sale of / concerning the conference in Brussels.With reference to our telephone conversation on Friday, I would like to let you know that

MAKING A REQUEST / ASKING FOR INFORMATIONFormal Could you please let me know if you can attend the fair/ if you are available for a meeting on 12 December? I would appreciate it if you could send me a brochure/ if you could reply within two days. Could you possibly arrange a meeting with my secretary? I would also like to know if there are any swimming pools in your area. Please, let me know how much the tickets cost.

OFFERING HELP / GIVING INFORMATION

Formal We are happy to let you know that your article has been selected for publication. I am glad to inform you that we will be holding our annual conference in Brussels on 20 September 2014. We regret to inform you that the show has been canceled due to bad weather conditions. We are willing to arrange another meeting with the CEO. We would be glad to send you another statement if necessary. Please, let me know if I can be of further assistance. Should you need any further information/assistance, do not hesitate to contact us.I trust the above resolves your queries. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.COMPLAININGFormal I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with / to complain about I regret to say that I was not completely satisfied with the room you provided us. We regret to inform you that your payment is considerably overdue. I would like to receive a full refund and compensation for the damages. I am interested to hear how your company can compensate us for the distress we suffered.APOLOGIZINGFormal We would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused. Please accept our apologies for the delay. Please let us know what we can do to compensate you for the damages caused. We will make sure that this will not happen again in the future.I am afraid I will not be able to attend the conference.

ATTACHING FILESFormal I am attaching my CV for your consideration. I am sending you the brochure as an attachment. Please see the statement attached. Please find attached the file you requested. I am afraid I cannot open the file you have sent me. Could you send it again in format?

CLOSING FORMULAFormal Yours faithfully, (when you start with Dear Sir/ Madam,) Yours sincerely, (when you start with the name e.g. Dear Ms Collins) Sincerely Yours, (AmE) Sincerely, (AmE) Yours Truly, (AmE)

BUSINESS ENGLISH VOCABULARYWriting Business LettersUseful phrases and vocabulary for writing business letters.

Salutation Dear Mr. Brown Dear Ms. White Dear Sir Dear Madam Dear Sir or Madam Gentlemen

Starting We are writing- to inform you that ...- to confirm ...- to request ...- to enquire about ... I am contacting you for the following reason... I recently read/heard about ..... and would like to know .... Having seen your advertisement in ..., I would like to ... I would be interested in (obtaining / receiving) ... I received your address from ----- and would like to ...

Referring to previous contact Thank you for your letter of March 15. Thank you for contacting us. In reply to your request, ... Thank you for your letter regarding ... With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday... Further to our meeting last week ... It was a pleasure meeting you in London last month. I enjoyed having lunch with you last week in Tokyo. I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed on Tuesday.

Making a request We would appreciate it if you would ... I would be grateful if you could ... Could you please send me ... Could you possibly tell us / let us have ... In addition, I would like to receive ... It would be helpful if you could send us ... I am interested in (obtaining / receiving) ... I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. Please let me know what action you propose to take.

Offering help Would you like us to ...? We would be happy to ... We are quite willing to ... Our company would be pleased to ...

Giving good news We are pleased to announce that ... I am delighted to inform you that .. You will be pleased to learn that ...

Giving bad news We regret to inform you that ... I'm afraid it would not be possible to ... Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to ... After careful consideration we have decided (not) to ...

Complaining I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with ... I am writing to complain about ... Please note that the goods we ordered on ( date ) have not yet arrived. We regret to inform you that our order n ----- is now considerably overdue. I would like to query the transport charges which seem unusually high.

BUSINESS ENGLISH VOCABULARYWriting Business Letters(page 2)

Apologizing We are sorry for the delay in replying to ... I regret any inconvenience caused (by) ... I would like to apologize for the (delay, inconvenience)... Once again, please accept my apologies for ...

Orders Thank you for your quotation of ... We are pleased to place an order with your company for.. We would like to cancel our order n ..... Please confirm receipt of our order. I am pleased to acknowledge receipt of your order n ..... Your order will be processed as quickly as possible. It will take about (two/three) weeks to process your order. We can guaranteeyou delivery before ...(date) Unfortunately these articles are no longer available /are out of stock.

Prices Please send us your price list. You will find enclosed our most recent catalogue and price list. Please note that our prices are subject to changewithout notice. We have pleasure in enclosing a detailed quotation. We can make you a firm offer of ...

Referring to payment Our terms of payment are as follows ... Our records show that we have not yet receivedpayment of ... According to our records ... Please send payment as soon as possible. You will receive a credit note for the sum of ...

Enclosing documents I am enclosing ... Please find enclosed ... You will find enclosed ...

Closing remarks If we can be of any further assistance, please let us know. If I can help in any way, please do not hesitate tocontact me. If you require more information ... For further details ... Thank you for taking this into consideration. Thank you for your help. We hope you are happy with this arrangement. We hope you can settle this matter to our satisfaction.

Referring to future business We look forward to a successful working relationship in the future. We would be (very) pleased to do business with your company. I would be happy to have an opportunity to work withyour firm.

Referring to future contact I look forward to seeing you next week. Looking forward to hearing from you, ... Looking forward to receiving your comments, I look forward to meeting you on the (date). I would appreciate a reply at your earliest convenience. An early reply would be appreciated.

Ending business letters Sincerely, }

Yours sincerely,}for all customers / clients

Sincerely yours,}

Yours faithfully,in more formal letters

Regards,for those you already know and/or with whomyou have a working relationship

Expressions for thanking1. Thank you for your help. / time / assistance / support2. I really appreciate the help. / time / assistance / support youve given me.3. Thank you once more for your help in this matter.Expressions with a future focus1. I look forward to hearing from you soon / meeting you next Tuesday.2. I look forward to seeing you soon.3. Im looking forward to your reply.4. We hope that we may continue to rely on your valued custom.5. We look forward to a successful working relationship in the future.6. Please advise as necessary.7. I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.Expressions for showing them you want to help1. If I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.2. If you require any further information, feel free to contact me.3. If you require any further information, let me know.4. Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information.5. Please let me know if you have any questions.6. I hope the above is useful to you.7. Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.8. Please contact me if there are any problems.9. Let me know if you need anything else10. Drop me a line if I can do anything else for you.