ESL Basics

Chances are if you are reading this, you have an email address. In fact, if you have signed up for our newsletter or registered to make comments on one of Andrea’s videos you have to have an email address. Email is everywhere and used by countless individuals. Well, maybe it is not countless because according to Email-Marketing-Reports.com there are roughly 1.4 billion email users.

So, assuming you are one of those users, how do you use English effectively for business in your emails? Many posts on email will be written in the future, but, today we are looking at the greeting or salutation. This is the first line of the email.

Below are several examples of common greetings used in emails. I will start with more formal and professional examples and move my way down to personal and informal examples. Please note that part of your job as a business person is being able to tell what type of greeting is appropriate for your audience.

Professional / Formal

• Mr. Jones, (Using the last name in the salutation conveys formality in the email. The only exception to this is when you use their last name as a nickname like “Jonesy”)
• Good Morning,
• Hello Mr. Jones,
• Good Evening,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Casual but still respectful

• Hey guys,
• Friend,
• Hi Team,
• All,
• Hey,
• Matt, (Using just the first name can be a powerful salutation because it isn’t so informal that you show disrespect, but it is still their name. Make sure you are on a first-name basis with the receiver of your email.)

Informal

• What’s up,
• Dude,
• Loser,
• Jonesy,
• Hey man,
• No salutation (Greetings are usually important to have, but if you are making a quick note sometimes you don’t need a greeting.)