Without looking below, listen to your teacher read out some phrases and hold up one of the two cards that you have been given depending on whether it is used to open or close emails.
Label the sections below with S for starting or E for ending.
All the best
Best wishes/ Love
CU
Best regards/ Best wishes/ Regards
Sincerely yours/ Yours faithfully
Yours
Dear Alex
Dear John, Hi/ Hi John/ Hello John
Dear Sir/ Dear Sir or Madam/ To whom it may concern
Dear Mr Case/ Dear Alex Case
Hi everyone
To: All sales staff
Dear all
Hi guys
How are you?/ How’s it going? (= How are things?/ How’s life?)
I hope you are well./ I hope you had a good weekend (or “conference/ holiday/ trip/ etc”)
Did you have a good…?
I’m writing to you about…
I am writing to your concerning…
I am writing to you in connection with…
I am writing to you regarding…
Regarding…
Re:…
I am writing to you with regards to…
I’m writing to you because…
I’m writing to you to…
I am writing in order to…
I look forward to hearing from you soon./ I look forward to your quick reply./ Please get back to me as soon as you can./ Please reply asap.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me./ If you need any more information, please let me know.
I look forward to seeing you again soon.
I hope we have the chance to meet again soon.
See you then.
See you on…
See you next…
Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your email.
Sorry for my late reply.
Thank you (in advance)./ Thank you for your cooperation.
Cheers
Any help you can give me with this would be very much appreciated.
Any assistance that you can offer would be gratefully accepted.
Hope that’s okay.
Thank you for your email…
Thanks for your quick reply.
Thank you for finding the time to meet me…
It was a pleasure to meet you…
It was so nice to see you again…
This is just a quick note to say…
Sorry to write to you out of the blue but…
Where there are two or more on one line above, choose which one is probably more common in business emails (including emails to colleagues and other people you often contact).
Ask about any other phrases above that you have questions about.
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Without looking above, try to think of and/ or remember as many phrases as you can for each of these functions:
Opening greeting/ salutation
Opening lines
Mentioning the last contact between you
Mentioning the topic of the email
Friendly social opening phrases
Closing lines
Mentioning the (possible) next contact between you
Ending a request or instructions
Ending greeting/ salutation
Try to find sections with those functions above.
Check with the answer key on the next page.
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Cards to hold up
| Starting | Ending |
| Starting | Ending |
| Starting | Ending |
| Starting | Ending |
| Starting | Ending |
| Starting | Ending |
———————
Suggested answers
Opening greeting/ salutation
Dear Sir/ Dear Sir or Madam/ To whom it may concern
Dear Mr Case/ Dear Alex Case
Dear Alex
To: All sales staff
Dear John, Hi/ Hi John
Hello John/ Hi John
Hi everyone
Dear all
Hi guys
Mentioning the last contact between you
Thank you for your email…
Thank you for finding the time to meet me…
It was a pleasure to meet you…
Thanks for your quick reply.
It was so nice to see you again…
Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your email.
Sorry for my late reply.
Mentioning the topic of the email
I’m writing to you about…
I am writing to your concerning…
I am writing to you in connection with…
I am writing to you regarding…
Regarding…
Re:…
I am writing to you with regards to…
I’m writing to you because…
I’m writing to you to…
I am writing in order to…
This is just a quick note to say…
Sorry to write to you out of the blue but…
Friendly social opening phrases
How are you?/ How’s it going? (= How are things?/ How’s life?)
I hope you are well./ I hope you had a good weekend (or “good conference/ holiday/ trip”)
I hope you enjoyed…
Did you have a good…?
How have you been?
Mentioning the (possible) next contact between you
I look forward to hearing from you soon./ I look forward to your quick reply./ Please get back to me as soon as you can./ Please reply asap.
I look forward to seeing you again soon.
I hope we have the chance to meet again soon.
See you then.
See you on…
See you next…
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me./ If you need any more information, please let me know.
Ending a request or instructions
Thank you (in advance)./ Thank you for your cooperation.
Cheers
Any help you can give me with this would be very much appreciated.
Any assistance that you can offer would be gratefully accepted.
Hope that’s okay.
Ending greeting/ salutation
Best regards/ Best wishes/ Regards
Sincerely yours/ Yours faithfully
Yours
All the best
Best wishes/ Love
CU
Test each other in pairs:
– Read out phrases and see if your partner can remember if they are for starting or ending
– Read out phrases and see if your partner can remember which function above it is has
– Choose one function above and help your partner come up with as many of examples as possible
– Choose starting or ending and help your partner come up with at least one example of each function for that part of emails.
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PDF for easy saving and printing: starting ending emails game
Related pages
Starting and ending emails page
Teaching Emailing e-book (with over 300 photocopiable pages, including a polished-up version of this worksheet and other good warmers)
TEFLtastic 