Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast
number 42. You're listening to English as a Second
Language podcast number 42. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen
from the Center for Educational Development.
Coming to you today from Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website for more information about
this podcast at www .eslpod .com Today we are
going to talk about writing a formal email message.
and what some of the expressions that we use
in more formal writing. This could be for business
or this could be for school. Today we're going
to use a school example. Let's get started. Dear
Dr. Lee I don't know if you'll remember me, but
I introduced myself to you after your keynote
at last week's conference. As I mentioned to
you, I have read all of your journal papers and
I am a great admirer of your research. Your article
in the top journal, Language Learning, was groundbreaking.
The reason I am contacting you is that I would
like to come to your university to study with
you. I met some of your students at the conference.
and they couldn't stop singing your praises as
a professor and as an advisor. I don't know if
you are accepting any new students for the next
year, but if so, I hope you will consider me.
I have included two attachments to this email.
I am sending a copy of my CV and I am also including
a research paper I completed this year. I hope
that these will give you an idea of my qualifications
and experience. Please let me know if you need
more information or more samples of my academic
work. It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet
you at the conference and I hope to hear more
about your research at a future conference. We
listened today to a formal email by Lucy. I want
to talk first about some of the expressions that
we use in a formal letter or a formal email.
The format or the way a formal email is organized
is very similar to a formal letter. The difference
is that when you have a paper letter that you
send someone, you include your physical address
where you are as well as the date. In a formal
email, we usually just begin with the title or
name of the person. A title is something like
Mr. or Mrs. or Doctor. Lucy begins her email
by saying Dear Dr. Lee. Dr. Lee is the person
she's writing. Dear is a common expression we
use to begin a letter. After writing Dear Dr.
Lee, you can put a comma or you can put a colon
to A colon is, you probably know, one dot above
the other, like two periods stacked one on top
of the other. If it's a formal letter, we usually
use a colon. If it's an informal letter, we usually
use a comma, at least in the United States. Lucy
begins her email by saying, to Dr. Lee, I don't
know if you'll remember me, but I introduced
myself to you after your keynote. That first
expression, I don't know if you'll remember me,
we use a lot when we have met someone, perhaps
a long time ago, and now we are trying to write
them or talk to them again. We start by saying,
I'm not sure if you'll remember me. I don't know
if you'll remember me. The idea here is that
we're being a little humble. We are not assuming.
We're not thinking that the other person will
remember us because we're so important. So to
be more humble, to have a little more humility,
we would say, I don't know if you'll remember
me. Lucy said that she introduced herself to
Dr. Lee after her keynote at last week's conference.
A keynote in business or in the university is
a formal address. It's a formal speech that someone
gives to a large group of people. Usually we
have a keynote at a conference. A conference
is a big meeting. where many people come together
to talk about something they're all interested
in, for business or for university related topics.
There can also be political conferences. Any
big meeting of people where you have lots of
different speeches and speakers is often called
a conference. Lucy then says, as I mentioned
to you this expression as I mentioned to you
we used to remind the other person of the conversation
we had you could also say as we discussed and
then go on and say what you discussed what you
are doing here is reminding the other person
of what your previous conversation or communication
was. We often use in a formal business letter
if we are responding to a question or a request
from someone for information, we use the expression
per your request, per PER. per your request,
comma, I'm sending you the catalog that you wanted
me to send you. So when we respond to someone's
request, we use that expression per your request,
in a business letter particularly. Lucy said
that she had read all of Dr. Lee's journal papers
Journal papers are scientific publications in
an academic or university research magazine.
A journal is a type of magazine. Research, you
already know, are scientific investigations.
People who do research, like on medical research,
you can do economic research and so forth. Lucy
mentioned she had read an article by Dr. Lee
in a top journal. When we say something, use
the adjective top, we mean one of the best. He
is a top basketball player, means he's one of
the best basketball players there is. Lucy said
in her second paragraph, the reason I am contacting
you is that and Then she went on to say why she
was contacting or communicating with dr. Lee
This is again a common expression that we use
in American business letters or formal letters
of any sort Letters in English are very direct
In some countries, in some languages, we use
a lot of different phrases and sentences before
we get to the main reason why we are writing.
But in American English, in particularly business
English or formal English, we get right to the
point. We get right to the main reason. And we
say, the reason I am writing you is that I want
you to do something, for example. You can also
say I am contacting you to ask you for a favor.
Lucy says the reason I am contacting you is that
I would like to come to your university to study
with you. So she states the reason for her letter
very soon after the beginning. The first part
or first paragraph of the letter or email here,
it's an email, she reminds Dr. Lee that they
met before and then she says, here's why I'm
writing you. Lucy used the expression in her
email that The students of Dr. Lee couldn't stop
singing her praises. To sing someone's praises
means to compliment them, to talk about how wonderful
they are. My father was singing my praises to
my uncle saying he was Saying some wonderful
things about me Probably not true, but there
you go Another expression that Lucy used several
times in the email is I hope She says at the
end of the second paragraph. I hope you will
consider me I hope that is a polite way of asking
or requesting something from another person.
And she uses that a couple of different times.
In the third paragraph of her email, Lucy says
that she has included two attachments. This word
attachments is a special word for email. An attachment
you probably know is a document or a file, an
electronic file that you put onto an email to
send someone else. It could be a Microsoft Word
document. It could be an MP3 audio file. We call
all those things attachments and you include
an attachment with your email. or to your email.
Lucy said she was sending the professor a copy
of her CV. CV, the letter C and the letter V,
stands for curriculum vitae. And a curriculum
vitae is a Latin word. It means a list of your
jobs and experiences and education. We often
sometimes use the word resume. A CV and a resume
are basically the same thing. Lucy sends her
CV because she wants to give Dr. Lee an idea
of her qualifications and experience. To give
someone an idea means to give them information.
I want to give you an idea of how cold it is
in Minnesota. It means I want to give you information
about how cold it is. Lucy says at the end of
her third paragraph, Please let me know if you
need more information. Please let me know is
a polite formal way telling the other person
that it's okay for them to call you or email
you to get more information. A similar expression
would be feel free to call me or feel free to
email. That means I want you to or it's okay
for you to email or contact me in some way. Lucy
also uses the expression academic work. Academic
work are publications, articles, research articles
that a university person, a professor would publish,
would put into a journal. Lucy closes her letter
or her email by saying It was a pleasure and
a privilege. This is again a formal expression.
It is a pleasure to something that is a pleasure.
It means it was good to you. You felt it was
good. A privilege is a special opportunity that
only a small number of people get to have. It
is a privilege to meet the Secretary General
of the United Nations. Very few people get to
meet him or her, and that's a special opportunity.
We call that a privilege. It's always a good
thing. So Lucy uses the expression, it was a
pleasure and a privilege to meet you. And she
says, I hope to hear more about your research.
Once again, that expression, I hope to, I hope
something. It's a formal way of saying that I
would like to, I am looking forward to. Lucy
closes her email by saying, sincerely, comma,
and then her name. Sincerely is how we close
a letter or an email, a formal email. You can
also use the word cordially. Cordially, comma,
and then your name. Of course, in an email, you
don't sign the email. You don't put your signature
like you would on a letter. You just state your
name or put your name. That's going to do it
for today's English as a Second Language podcast.
Remember the scripts for our podcasts are now
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Email us and tell us who you are and where you
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you. Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com.
I'm Jeff McQuillan from Los Angeles, California.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast. This
podcast is copyright 2005.