Unit 7: Organising your writing

Make your emails clear and easy to understand by properly organising them.

Organising your writing

The people you write to will understand well-organised emails much more easily.

Writer purpose

When you write an email, you need to make clear why you are writing. You can do this by using the phrase 'I am writing to (+ verb)' at the start of your email. Here are some examples:

I am writing to

ask for further details about ...
inform you that my new address is …
complain about your customer service.
say thank you very much for all your hard work.
apply for the job as Teacher of Maths at your school.

Paragraphs

Emails are easier to read if the writer uses paragraphs.
A paragraph in an email is often two or three sentences long.
Each paragraph starts on a new line.
When you start writing about a new topic, you can start a new paragraph.

Look at this example email to a friend.

Paragraph 1 Greeting	Hello Dmitri, How is life? I haven't seen you for a long time. How are your children?
Paragraph 2 Reason for writing	I'm writing with some good news – my wife is having a baby next month. We think it's going to be a girl, and we're very excited. But I also wanted to ask you something!
Paragraph 3 Request	You told me you have lots of baby clothes. Do you think I could borrow some for my baby? I've looked in the shops, and new baby clothes are so expensive … Could you let me know if this is OK?
Paragraph 4 Other news	By the way, I've also started a new job. It's going really well!
Paragraph 5 'look forward to' and ending	Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you soon. Give my best wishes to your wife and family. Regards, George