The Formal Email
Plan, create, edit and publish written and multimodal texts, selecting subject matter, and using text structures, language features, literary devices and visual features as appropriate to convey information, ideas and opinions.
An email is not a letter with the addresses removed. It has its own layout, and the subject line does work that a letter does not need.
Builds onYr 7 · The Formal Letter
Method
No postal addresses, no date
The email system supplies both. Writing them in is a format error.
The subject line is a headline, not a greeting
Request for repairs to the netball court — not Hello and not Question.
Formal email is still formal
The medium is quick. The register is not. No emojis, no abbreviations, no missing capitals.
Worked example
e.g. Email your school principal asking permission to run a lunchtime chess club.
- The To line.To: principal@ashgrovehigh.edu.au
- The Subject line. Specific enough to act on without opening the email.Subject: Request to start a lunchtime chess club
- The greeting, followed by a comma.Dear Mrs Patel,
- Sentence one — why you are writing. Never open with small talk.I am writing to ask permission to start a chess club on Tuesday lunchtimes.
- The middle — the detail, kept short. Email paragraphs are shorter than letter paragraphs.Fourteen students have already signed up, and Mr Ellis has offered to supervise.
- The ask — clear and specific.Could we use Room 12 from Week 4?
- The sign-off. Softer than a letter.Kind regards,
- Your name, and your class or role.Aisha Nkomo, Year 7B
Practice
Fix each problem before you check the answer.
1
A learner writes their home address and the date at the top of an email. Why is that wrong?
AnswerAn email carries the sender and the date automatically. Adding them shows the learner has written a letter and changed the label.
2
Improve this subject line: Subject: hi
AnswerSubject: Request to start a lunchtime chess club. A subject line should let the reader know the topic and the action needed before they open it.
3
Which parts of a formal letter survive in an email, and which do not?
AnswerSurvive: the greeting, formal register, the one-reason opening, a clear request, a sign-off and your name. Do not: both postal addresses, the date, and the underlined subject line — replaced by the Subject field.
4
Why are email paragraphs shorter than letter paragraphs?
AnswerEmails are read on screens and often on a phone. A long block is skimmed or skipped, so the request gets missed.