The Executive Guide to E-mail Correspondence

Briefings

INCLUDING E-mail English Sentence Patterns Punctuation Emphasis Rhetorical Modes Editing and Proofing Strategies

E-mail English

E-mail English is probably a little different from the English you’ve studied in school and read in the press. Because e-mail has to get its message across right away, some of the trappings of literary English fall by the wayside. E-mail English is closer to speech than it is to the newspaper or textbook. It takes cues from how we talk, preferring one-word sentences and a conversational tone to complex sentences and lofty vocabulary. Here are some features to keep in mind:

—Announce the main point of the e-mail in the first sentence whenever possible.

—Keep paragraphs short.

—Use plenty of white space between ...