Write an Email — reader, purpose, register
What the email has to do
- Decide two things before you type: who you are writing to and what you want to happen.
- Everything else follows. A short email that does its job outscores a long one that does not.
- Answer everything the situation asks. An email that handles one of two requests has failed the task it was set.
A beautifully written email that answers one of the situation's two requests can still score well on task completion.
Task completion asks whether the email did its job. Missing one of two requests means it did half of it, however well the sentences read.
Four moves, four sentences
- Why you are writing — in the first sentence, not the third.
- The detail — the facts the reader needs to act.
- The request — what you want, specifically.
- A close — appropriate to the reader.
What belongs in the first sentence of the email?
A reader who knows the purpose reads everything after it correctly. Background before purpose makes them guess.
Register is where marks are lost
- To a tutor or an office: polite and slightly indirect. I was wondering whether, would it be possible to, I would be grateful if.
- To a classmate: direct and warm. Dear Sir or Madam to someone whose name you were given is wrong.
- Register is wrong in every sentence at once, which is why it is more visible than a grammar slip.
The situation names your classmate Sara. How should the email open?
You were given her name and she is a peer. Register is judged across the whole email, so getting the opening wrong signals the rest.
Two habits to drop
- A soft "maybe" that means no. Polite in Chinese, evasive in English. Decline clearly, then be warm.
- Burying the difficult part. If there is no fee, or you need something awkward, say it early. A reader who finds it in the last line stops trusting the rest.
You cannot join a classmate's project. Which reply is clearest in English?
A soft maybe that means no is polite in Chinese and reads as evasive in English. Decline clearly, give a reason, stay warm.
How to practise
- Write one email a day to a specified reader: a tutor, an office, a classmate. Then reread it as that person.
- Ask: would this get me what I asked for? That is the only question the task is scored on.
- Format facts checked on the ETS website on 13 September 2026.