Sample email

Dear Ms Smith,
 
Knowing that your entry into service at the European Commission is approaching, I would like to hereby extend you a warm welcome to our Unit, and provide you with some practical information.
 
As agreed during your job interview, you will be in charge of the follow-up of inter-service consultations. This position involves regular interaction and coordination with the other services of our DG as well as with other DGs. You will be working closely with Ms Black in our Unit, as inter-service consultation follow-up is a shared responsibility. Under my supervision, Ms Black will explain to you the various procedures, so that you can become acquainted with our working methods as soon as possible. As an attachment, I am resending your job description, in case you need it for a quick reference.
 
You should have been already informed that you will be attending a two-day training course organised by DG HR, i.e., the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security, before taking up your duties at our Unit. This very useful course should provide you with additional information regarding the functioning of the European Commission, its working environment, and the rights and duties of its employees. During the training, you will have the opportunity to get your badge ready; all the relevant information will be provided by the trainers.
 
As a newcomer in Brussels, you might also be interested in receiving information on matters such as accommodation and public transportation. Please note that the orientation leaders at DG HR will be handing out an information package during the training, and that a legal advisor will be at your disposal to check the leases you might be considering before you sign a contract. If you need to search for an apartment, the best place to start is the immoweb website (http://www.immoweb.be/). There is also plenty of short-term accommodation available in Brussels, especially in the Schuman area close to the European Institutions. You can find all the necessary information about public transportation in Brussels at http://www.stib.be/.
 
I would also like to hereby invite you take up your duties in our Unit on Wednesday, 16th of March, i.e., after the completion of the training mentioned above.  I propose starting the day with a meeting in my office at 9.30 am.  Afterwards, I will introduce you to the members of the team you will be working in. Moreover, you will need to make an appointment to see Mr Miller (tel.: +32(0)2/293 1113) in the afternoon of the same day.  I suggest making the appointment at least three days in advance, since he is usually very busy.  He is the HR focal point in our DG, and thus he will be your interlocutor for all contract related issues.
 
As you probably remember from your interview, our offices are located at Rue de la Science, 15, close to Rue Belliard. With your badge, you can come up directly to our Unit, which is located on the 7th floor; I am in office 123.
 
Looking forward to meeting you in person,
 
With kind regards,

 Iris Wellington

Greetings and closers

Here is a list of greetings you can use in your formal emails depending on the recipient:

• Anonymous singular:

1. Dear Sir/Madam
2. Dear Madam/Sir
3. Dear Sir or Madam
4. Dear Madam or Sir

• Anonymous plural:

1. Dear Sirs/Ladies
2. Dear Ladies/Sirs
3. Dear Sirs and/or Ladies
4. Dear Ladies and/or Sirs

• With a given male name: Dear Mr Smith

• With a given female name:

1.  Dear Ms Smith (civil status irrelevant or unknown)
2.  Dear Mrs Smith (married)
3.  Dear Miss Smith (single and younger than fifty)

• With given names to a group of less than three people (male):  Dear Messrs Smith and Jones

• With given names to a group of less than three people (female):

1. Dear Mses Smith and Jones (civil statuses unknown, irrelevant or different)
2. Dear Mesdames Smith and Jones (both of them married)
3. Dear Misses Smith and Jones (both of them single and younger than fifty)

• With given names to a group of less than three people (mixed gender and not related to each other by marriage or blood): 

1. Dear Messrs Smith and Jones, and Ms Presley 
2. Dear Ms Presley, and Messrs Smith and Jones

• With a given name to a couple who use the same last name:

1. Dear Mr and Mrs Smith 
2. Dear Mrs and Mr Smith 

• With given names to a group of more than three people (mixed gender):

1. Dear Sirs/Ladies
2. Dear Ladies/Sirs
3. Dear Sirs and Ladies
4. Dear Ladies and Sirs

• With given names to a group of more than three people (all male): Dear Sirs

• With given names to a group of more than three people (all female): Dear Ladies 

• With a given first and last name and the gender is not clear:  Dear Alex Smith

Here is a list of closers which apply to all formal emails regardless of their content:

• With kind regards
• Kind regards
• Regards

You can hereby find a document on how to address various VIPs in different contexts.

Preparation for 15th of April

Please write a summary report based on the notes you took as you watched the BBC piece on the main EU Institutions.  If you can send me your summary reports as Word documents, we can look at the some of them during the workshop.

Those of you who could not join us for the in-class note taking exercise, you can hereby have access to the stream to listen to the BBC report.  You can simulate a real-life challenge for yourself, if you listen to the piece only once.

Gender neutrality

"English Style Guide" released by the Commission is hereby available.  On pages 48 - 49 you can find the section on gender neutrality. 

Subject-Verb agreement

You can find a document on subject-verb agreement with exercises here.  The key for the exercises is available here.

A longer document entitled "Grammar and Punctuation for Business Communication"  is hereby available.  Please refer to pages 11 - 14 for subject-verb agreement.  We will be using this document when we deal with other major issues related to writing.

Require and dread: gerund vs. infinitive

Dear B.,

Here are the answers to your questions:

Hello John,

I did the exercises below and I wonder about the nuance between:
The certification program requires me to take several tests.
The certification program requires my taking several tests.

I prefer the first sentence to the second.  I would not use the possessive personal pronoun with the gerund after the verb ‘require’, although one can use a noun, and say the following:

The certification program requires my participation in several tests.

Having said that, one can use the gerund after a possessive personal pronoun when dealing with verbs that are always used with the gerund, e.g., I enjoyed his joining us.  However, I would avoid such usage with verbs which can be used with both the gerund and infinitive.

What's the difference between:
I dread to think of what might happen next.
I dread going to work tomorrow.

The two uses are explained at the following link: http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/gerund_or_infinitive_different_list.htm
There is no difference in meanings, but the infinitive usage is restricted to the verbs ‘think’ and ‘consider’.

Thank you for your help.

B.

All the best,

John

Email attachments

Here is a link where you can find the email attachments I have sent you so far:
 Attachments to the first four emails

Fourth email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you two documents with exercises on linking words.

I would like to finalize the workshop on emails next week, so please come to the next session with any questions you still have about emails.  Depending on the quality and quantity of your questions, we might then have the time to have an in-class exercise on note taking.

Looking forward to seeing you then,

All the best,

John

Third email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you the list on gerund vs. infinitive.

Here is a link for exercises on the same topic:

http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/index.htm

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

All the best,

John

Second email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you some documents – some of them with exercises – on the following issues we dealt with during our last session:

• American vs. British English
• word order
• location of adverbs
• composite nouns
  

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

All the best,

John

First email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you the booklet we looked at during our first session.

Moreover,  here is the link for section 10 entitled “House rules for the preparation of the text” from the Interinstitutional Style Guide, where you can find some of the fundamental rules related to writing at the Commission:

http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100000.htm

Those of you who could not join us last week, please send me an email as a writing sample to fulfill the following task:  You need to write a formal email to a new-comer joining your Unit.  After welcoming him/her, you need to give him/her some useful information concerning practical and administrative matters, e.g., directions to get your office, obtaining a badge, finding temporary accommodation, etc.  You then need to give him/her some information about the working environment at your Unit and make an appointment with him/her for an orientation tour on his/her first day.

We always start our sessions with general questions you might have, so do feel free to table them if you have any for our next meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you then,

All the best,

John
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Noras
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