Clearly, I am seriously like, totally lacking in this area of my life. But a girl can dream, right? In an effort to smarten up my act {turns out this whole blogging business requires me to act the professional from time to time}, I am attempting to start with my most used form of communication: email.
Here’s what I plan on working on:
- Stop using the words like and totally. The suburban valley girl inside of me is not going to be happy about this one.
- Spell check. Every time.
- Proofread. Every time. Uh, this is going to be exhausting.
- Break emails into paragraphs. You’d think that would go without saying, but email started out as such a casual method of communication, the letter writing etiquette never really applied. It does now, though, so make your high school English teacher proud.
- Create a custom signature. It’s in the settings of your email account and it screams, “Hey, look! I know about technology. Aren’t I rad!?”
- No emoji or smiley face anything in professional emails. Sad, but true. {I wish I could insert a sad emoji right here.}
- Keep everything clear and concise. Write an email like you value the other person’s time. Get to the point. Of course, you still want to communicate effectively, but no need to write a dissertation on the subject.
- Crank your vocabulary up a notch. I’m not suggesting that your reader have to have a dictionary handy to get through your email, but using a little more formal verbiage might trick people into thinking you’re competent and well-spoken {or at least, I am hoping it will trick them into thinking that about me}.
- Remember that tone is extremely difficult to convey over email {especially without an emoji}, so it’s best not to try to be sarcastic, etc. in a professional email unless you really know the recipient.
Those are the big ones that I plan on working on. Any of you have any more suggestions for me?
~Mavis
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Monica says
Confession time, I work as a paralegal and all of my documents, e-mails, etc. are supposed to be perfect…..and I hate using spell check and re-reading my work. I know, I know, it comes with the job but i.hate.it and literally have to force myself to go these extra steps, when all in all they are pretty easy. My boss, as well as the other attorney that I work for, actually work in an office very far from me (states and time zones away from me) which, among other things, makes it hard for me not to use an emoji here or there because how in the heck do they know my tone/mood, etc. without it!
Kristina Z says
Also (and a pet peeve of mine), something that spell check will not catch: getting your homophones in order. That is, don’t use “to” when you need “too”, don’t confuse “they’re”, “their”, and “there”, “peak”, “pique” (as in pique one’s interest), and “peek”, “palate” and “palette” and the deadly “you’re” and “your”. The credibility of a well-written message becomes instantly suspect when the reader is lead to doubt the education of the writer. I use this cheat sheet whenever I doubt my instincts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lists_of_common_misspellings/Homophones
Lindsey says
Here is the error that screams “Poor Grammar” to me: not knowing that it’s ALWAYS means “it is.” English is my second language and I know this, so why don’t native English speakers????
Matt Barclay says
TheMuse.com has a bunch of professional email/letter templates. They are linked to by this article [pastebin.com]: http://pastebin.com/jAw799a1
Here’s an example:
4. You Need to Write a Thank You Note for an Interview
Especially if you’re interviewing a lot, there’s no need to fret over each individual thank you note. For a basic note that gets the job done, start with this template, tweak it slightly for each company and role, and send it off by EOD after you’ve interviewed.
https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-write-an-interview-thankyou-note-an-email-template
Beth Rankin says
And when you start harvesting, bring some over to the office or the woman on the committee and then sweetly ask her if she needs a cooking lesson on how to prepare the food too.
Debbie says
to: We are going to the store. too: I want to go too. two: Buy me two gallons of milk.
Nina says
Oh, dear! I’m afraid I’m a bit of a freak about grammar, punctuation, usage, etc. Comma usage is one of the worst problems bloggers/writers have, as well as correct use of apostrophes. For help in general, go to this site:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu
This is Purdue University’s On-Line Writing site. Choose the MLA (Modern Language Association) option for the most up-to-date and easily accessed grammar and writing guidelines. This is where I refer my high school students for final drafts revisions. It’s helpful and easy to understand.
linda says
you’re still going to use ‘totally’ and ‘like’ with us, right? if not, that would be totally lame. totally.
Susannah says
The one that gets me is “suppose” and “supposed.” When you can switch it with the word “guess,” then it’s “suppose”; i.e., “I suppose that’s a good idea.” When you’re describing a past intention, then it’s “supposed”; i.e., “I was supposed to finish the book, but I didn’t.”