Email and blogs

Unit 4: Internet and the World Wide Web

Lesson 2: E-mails, Blogs, and Newsgroups

Exercise 8: Put the following emails in the correct order

A) Dear Ms Saarland,
Thank you very much for your email of the 7th March. I am looking forward to working with you in the coming months and years and to seeing you soon.
Regards
Graham

B) Re: Our first meeting
Hello again Susan,
Sorry for the delay in replying but I had to forward both our schedules to my boss to get his input. Anyway, I've attached a copy of your schedule with the best slots for me shaded in red. Any of these is fine, but I'd like to meet as soon as possible.
Cheers
Graham

C) Dear Graham,
Sorry meeting up is turning out to be so complicated. I guess we are both just so busy that everyone wants our time! I'm holding meetings with my new colleagues here almost every Monday and Friday for the foreseeable future, but I'm usually free midweek. Please find attached a copy of my schedule for the first two weeks of April. Please pick any slot you like and I'll do my very best to make it then.
Thanks for your patience.
All the best
Susan

D) Dear Mr Smith,
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Susan Saarland and I am the new South Western sales manager for Chou Cream English Schools. The previous sales manager for your area, Chris Jones, has been promoted to Head of Marketing and has asked me to pass his best wishes onto you. I look forward to doing business with you and hope we get the chance to meet soon.
Yours
Susan Saarland

E) Dear Graham,
Thanks for your quick reply. If it is convenient with you, I will be able to meet with you very soon indeed as I am visiting one of your colleagues on Wednesday, 25th March. I am planning to finish the meeting at 12:30 p.m., and would be very glad to meet you any time after that.
Best wishes
Susan

F) Dear Susan,
Thanks for making the time to meet up with me at such short notice, but I'm afraid I'm attending a conference abroad on that day. I'm flying back on the Sunday and will be available anytime from Monday afternoon of the following week.
Hope to see you soon.
Best regards
Graham

G) Susan,
OK. Great. See you then.
P.S. I know a great place for lunch if you have time after the meeting.

H) Hi Graham. Great! Will see you at 10 am on the 2nd.
Cheers
Susan

Exercise 9: Formality or informality

1. Match each expression in column 1 with one or two of similar meaning in columns 2 and 3.
2. What are the differences between the similar expressions?

Exercise 10: Correct errors in the following e-mail messages

1. I have found a nice restaurant near here.
2. I'd love to meet you on Thursday night.
3. I'm looking forward to seeing you very soon.
4. Would you like to go out for dinner this Wednesday?
5. Dear Mr. David,
6. Tomorrow is fine. I'm free all day. See you then.
7. PPS: I am meeting with an old classmate of yours on Friday.
8. To Dr. Smith,
9. Why don’t we meet in London?
10. Thanks for the invitation, but I am flying abroad on that day.
11. I am going out with my friends.

Text 1: Why E-mail Looks Like Speech (by Naomi S. Baron)

Surveying the burgeoning literature on email, we find the medium depicted in a variety of ways:

• Letters by phone: email as a form of writing
• Speech by other means: email as a form of speech
• Mix and match: email as a combination of written and spoken elements
• E-style: email as a distinct language style
• Contact system: email as a still-evolving language style

The first two approaches attempt to pigeonhole email into the mould of existing modalities of communication: either email is essentially a written message conveyed by a new electronic medium – 'letters by phone' – or it is speech that happens to be written down for transmission.