By the end of this unit you should:
It is necessary to make language choices when writing emails. In this Unit, we focus on selecting language that is more courteous. Courteous language is language that is polite. We will consider the scenario where a second-year undergraduate writes an email requesting a meeting to a potential supervisor.
Work in pairs. Discuss the following four pairs of sentences. In each pair, one sentence is more appropriate for use in an email to a potential supervisor. Decide the more appropriate choice and explain why.
In general, when making requests Could is more polite than Can. When requesting an appointment, it is not a good idea to provide only one choice on the same day. A more effective strategy is to state the period of time you are available and let the supervisor select specific time slots. When using want and would like to describe something that you hope to do both are correct; however, would like is more polite. Finally, including your helps to personalize an email and so is recommended.
Read these orders/requests. They are placed in order of politeness. The first items are less courteous while the later items are more courteous.
As you can see, courteous requests are generally longer. Thus, there is a trade-off between writing concisely and writing courteously. "Stand up!"" is concise but not courteous. "Would you mind standing up?" is courteous but not concise. When deciding which form to use, you must consider the relationship, relative status between you and the other person as well as the difficulty of the request. It is fine to ask a friend, "Can you lend me 100 yen?"; but f you were to ask for a million yen, you should be much more polite.
Work alone. Transform these orders into polite requests. Use a different polite request in each case. The first one is done for you are an example.
Read.
If you don´t pay, will we not send the goods to you.
The above sentence appears rude. There is no benefit to the reader and there are two negatives (don’t and not). It may be reworded as:
We will deliver the goods to you when we receive your payment.
The meaning is the same, but the benefit (getting the goods) is emphasized, and there are no negatives.
Rephrase these sentences, emphasizing the reader benefit and avoiding using negatives.
Read the email below and identify how to improve the email by increasing the courtesy and including reader benefit.
Dear John
I want to join your lab. It will help my research
Can you meet me today? I cannot meet you tomorrow.
I have free time until 5:00 pm. I am busy playing football later.
I cannot speak English but I can write a little. I want you to teach me.
Taro Sato (s12345678)
Your name is Taro Sato. Email a professor to arrange an appoinment. Select an actual professor from the UoA faculty list. Tailor your email to the research area of the lab. In your email:
Submit a PDF of your email to the learning management system ( ELMS ).
Can you identify:
If you cannot, you should work on this.