Business English: Email Writing Tips
Clear, correctly hedged, appropriately short. Templates and phrase banks for the emails you send every week.
Workplace email is one of the few areas where being grammatically correct is genuinely not enough. Tone carries the message. A perfectly formed sentence can still read as rude, evasive or oddly formal — and the writer usually has no idea.
Put the ask in the first two lines
English business email is front-loaded. State the purpose and the action you need immediately, then give the background. Cultures that build context first often feel this is abrupt, but to an English-speaking reader a delayed request reads as unclear rather than polite.
Could you approve the attached budget by Thursday? Context below.
Hedge with intent, not by habit
Hedging softens a request. Over-hedging destroys it. I was just sort of wondering if you might possibly have a moment to maybe look at this signals that the task is optional. Choose one hedge and stop.
- Neutral request: Could you send the file by Friday?
- Softer: Would you mind sending the file by Friday?
- Firm but polite: I need the file by Friday to meet the client deadline.
- Escalating: I wanted to follow up on this, as the deadline is now tomorrow.
Chasing without friction
Two follow-ups is the norm. The first is neutral: Just checking in on this. The second adds a consequence rather than emotion: Following up — without this by Wednesday we will miss the release window. Avoid as I mentioned previously and as per my last email; both read as accusatory to most native readers.
Delivering bad news
Use a three-part structure: brief acknowledgement, the news stated plainly, then the alternative. Thanks for the proposal. We are not able to move forward this quarter. I would like to revisit it in July — would that work?
Openings and closings that always work
- Hi [name], — the default for almost every internal and client email
- Dear [name], — first contact, formal or legal correspondence
- Thanks for your patience on this. — after a delay you caused
- Happy to talk it through if easier. — offering a call without demanding one
- Best regards, / Best, / Thanks, — safe closings in descending formality
Before you send
Reread the first two lines only. If a busy reader stopped there, would they know what you want and when? If not, rewrite those two lines and leave the rest alone.
Want this applied to your English?
Reading about it helps. Practising it with feedback is what changes the habit. A $25 trial lesson tells you exactly which of these gaps is costing you the most.
Get the next guide by email
One practical article every other week.