Business Writing

Life
Useful phrases
Emails and letters

Starting Introducing good news

Dear Sir or Madam I am delighted to
Dear Mr / Mrs / Ms / Miss Brown Im happy to / Im pleased to
Hi Fortunately / Luckily
Hello
Introducing bad news
Ending We regret to inform you that
Yours faithfully (after Dear Sir or Madam) Unfortunately / Sadly
Yours sincerely (after Dear Mr / Mrs / Ms / Miss) Im afraid (that) / Im sorry, but / I regret that
Best regards / Kind regards
All the best Requesting
Bye for now Id be grateful if you would send
Could you possibly send ?
Giving reason for writing Can you send ?
I am writing with regard to / about Please send
Im writing to request / inform / enquire / complain
about / apply for Thanking
Just a quick email to ask I would like to thank you for
Im writing on behalf of I appreciate your assistance with this.
Im grateful for
Referring to previous contact thank you for / thanks for
Further to our previous meeting
With reference to your letter dated 15/6/13 Apologising
Following your letter My apologies. / Sorry. / Im sorry that
About your email Please accept my apology / I sincerely regret
Sending an attachment or enclosure Inviting / accepting / declining
I am attaching / enclosing Would you like to ? / Do you want to ?
Please find attached / enclosed That would be great. / Id love to. / That sounds
As you will see from the attachment / enclosure great.
Here is Im sorry, but Im busy. / Im afraid I cant.
Offering more information or help Arranging
Please feel free to contact me if you would like any Can you meet at (time) on (day)?
further information. What day suits you?
Email me / Give me a call if you want any more Tuesday would suit me.
information. Tuesday is good for me.
Do not hesitate to contact me if you require any Look forward to seeing you there.
further assistance. See you next week.
Referring to future contact Checking and clarifying
I look forward to hearing from you. Im writing to check / confirm that
We look forward to working with you in the future. I dont understand what you mean
See you soon. Do you mean ? / Are you saying that ?

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Reports and memos

Introducing Reporting figures and trends

The purpose of this report is to approximately / about / nearly / just over / just
This report compares under
Here is a report on increase / go up / rise / grow / climb / jump / rocket
decrease / go down / fall / slump
Structure and signposting level out / remain steady / peak / reach a high
The report is divided into three sections. slightly / steadily / sharply / significantly / suddenly
Here are my findings.
This diagram shows Reporting and summarising results
Please refer to table 3.1. every / all / each
As this chart shows many / a lot of / a large amount
The following points should be noted. several / a reasonable amount
not many / not a lot of / a few / a small amount
Comparing none / not any / neither nor
Its similar to
Its different to Concluding and recommending
Its better than in conclusion / to sum up
On the one hand but on the other it can be concluded that / it was found that
X is However, Y is overall / in general
the top / leading / highest / major / most important it is recommended that / it is worth noting that
Id suggest / recommend
Reporting what was said we should
Mr X said / asked / claimed / explained / pointed
out / reported / suggested / told
It was agreed / announced / concluded / decided /
proposed / requested that
The chairperson summed the meeting up

Linking words
Addition: in addition / also / furthermore / as well
as / on top of / moreover
Conditions: provided that / as long as / so long as /
on condition that / in case
Contrast: however / in contrast / in spite of /
although / even though
Give reasons: because / in order to / so that /
so as to
Result and consequence: as a result / due to / so /
owing to / consequently
Sequencing: firstly / secondly / next / then / finally

Life Business Writing Useful phrases National Geographic Learning