Wishes

Here you can find more examples and an exercise with the key on wishes.

Minutes

Here you can find an example for minutes.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al.

Memo

Here you can find an example for a memo.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al.

Notes and reports

I am hereby making a document available with tips on taking notes with the intention of writing reports.  There is also some information on how to write reports by expanding from given information, e.g., in an advertisement, which may not consist of full sentences, .

Here is a text from The Economist, which you can read and write a summary report on.  Those of you who could not join us on 15th of April, this article is to be read with the intention of writing a summary of not longer than one 1.5-spaced page.  If you can send me the summary before our next session on 29th of April, we can talk about it during our workshop.

Sample email

Dear Ms Smith,
 
Knowing that your entry into service at the European Commission is approaching, I would like to hereby extend you a warm welcome to our Unit, and provide you with some practical information.
 
As agreed during your job interview, you will be in charge of the follow-up of inter-service consultations. This position involves regular interaction and coordination with the other services of our DG as well as with other DGs. You will be working closely with Ms Black in our Unit, as inter-service consultation follow-up is a shared responsibility. Under my supervision, Ms Black will explain to you the various procedures, so that you can become acquainted with our working methods as soon as possible. As an attachment, I am resending your job description, in case you need it for a quick reference.
 
You should have been already informed that you will be attending a two-day training course organised by DG HR, i.e., the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security, before taking up your duties at our Unit. This very useful course should provide you with additional information regarding the functioning of the European Commission, its working environment, and the rights and duties of its employees. During the training, you will have the opportunity to get your badge ready; all the relevant information will be provided by the trainers.
 
As a newcomer in Brussels, you might also be interested in receiving information on matters such as accommodation and public transportation. Please note that the orientation leaders at DG HR will be handing out an information package during the training, and that a legal advisor will be at your disposal to check the leases you might be considering before you sign a contract. If you need to search for an apartment, the best place to start is the immoweb website (http://www.immoweb.be/). There is also plenty of short-term accommodation available in Brussels, especially in the Schuman area close to the European Institutions. You can find all the necessary information about public transportation in Brussels at http://www.stib.be/.
 
I would also like to hereby invite you take up your duties in our Unit on Wednesday, 16th of March, i.e., after the completion of the training mentioned above.  I propose starting the day with a meeting in my office at 9.30 am.  Afterwards, I will introduce you to the members of the team you will be working in. Moreover, you will need to make an appointment to see Mr Miller (tel.: +32(0)2/291 7811) in the afternoon of the same day.  I suggest making the appointment at least three days in advance, since he is usually very busy.  He is the HR focal point in our DG, and thus he will be your interlocutor for all contract related issues .
 
As you probably remember from your interview, our offices are located at Rue de la Science, 15, close to Rue Belliard. With your badge, you can come up directly to our Unit, which is located on the 7th floor; I am in office 123.
 
Looking forward to meeting you in person,
 
With kind regards,

 Iris Wellington

Gerund vs. infinitive

Numerous exercises on gerund vs. infinitive along with their key are hereby made available for you to have access at your convenience.  You can also find the list of verbs used with gerund and/or infinitive here.

Here you can find more information and exercises on the same topic.

Gender neutrality

On pages 48 - 49 of  "English Style Guide" released by the Commission you can find the section on gender neutrality. You can access the guide here.

Greetings and closers

Here is a list of greetings you can use in your formal emails depending on the recipient:

• Anonymous singular:

1. Dear Sir/Madam
2. Dear Madam/Sir
3. Dear Sir or Madam
4. Dear Madam or Sir

• Anonymous plural:

1. Dear Sirs/Ladies
2. Dear Ladies/Sirs
3. Dear Sirs and/or Ladies
4. Dear Ladies and/or Sirs

• With a given male name: Dear Mr Smith

• With a given female name:

1.  Dear Ms Smith (civil status irrelevant or unknown)
2.  Dear Mrs Smith (married)
3.  Dear Miss Smith (single and younger than fifty)

• With given names to a group of less than three people (male):  Dear Messrs Smith and Jones

• With given names to a group of less than three people (female):

1. Dear Mses Smith and Jones (civil statuses unknown, irrelevant or different)
2. Dear Mesdames Smith and Jones (both of them married)
3. Dear Misses Smith and Jones (both of them are single and younger than fifty)

• With given names to a group of less than three people (mixed gender and not related to each other by marriage or blood): 

1. Dear Messrs Smith and Jones, and Ms Presley 
2. Dear Ms Presley, and Messrs Smith and Jones

• With a given name to a couple who use the same last name:

1. Dear Mr and Mrs Smith 
2. Dear Mrs and Mr Smith 

• With given names to a group of more than three people (mixed gender):

1. Dear Sirs/Ladies
2. Dear Ladies/Sirs
3. Dear Sirs and Ladies
4. Dear Ladies and Sirs

• With given names to a group of more than three people (all male): Dear Sirs

• With given names to a group of more than three people (all female): Dear Ladies 

• With a given first and last name and the gender is not clear:  Dear Alex Smith

Here is a list of closers which apply to all formal emails regardless of their content:

• With kind regards
• Kind regards
• Regards

You can hereby find a document on how to address various VIPs in different contexts. 

Email attachments

Here is a link where you can find the email attachments I have sent you so far:
 Attachments to the first five emails

Fifth email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you a document with exercises on wishes as well as the key.

Here is a link where you can some exercises on modal verbs:

http://www.englishpage.com/modals/modalintro.html

We talked about making requests during our last session.  We can come back to the topic of modal verbs if you have questions about other functions.

All the best,

John

Fourth email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you two documents dealing with the different ways of addressing various VIPs.

I would like to finalize the workshop on emails next week, so please come to the next session with any questions you still have about emails.  Depending on the quality and quantity of your questions, we might then have the time to talk about memos.

Looking forward to seeing you then,

All the best,

John

Third email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you the list on gerund vs. infinitive.

Here is a link for exercises on the same topic:

http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/index.htm

As another attachment, I am also sending you some exercises on subject-verb agreement as well as the keys for all the exercises I have sent you so far.

The final attachment with this email is a longer document part of which we looked at during our last session.  Please refer to pages 11 – 14 for subject-verb agreement.  We will be using this document when we deal with other major issues related to writing.

Please refer to item 79C on the list of the differences between American and British English concerning subject-verb agreement.

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

All the best,

John

Second email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you a few documents – some of them with exercises -  on the following issues we dealt with during our last session:

• state vs. action verbs
• present perfect vs. present perfect continuous tenses
  

Here are some links where you can find exercises on the tenses we talked about, i.e., simple past, present perfect and present perfect continuous:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs5.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs6.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs7.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs8.htm

Here is an additional exercise on state vs. action verbs:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs16.htm

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

All the best,

John

First email

Dear All,

Attached, I am sending you the booklet we looked at during our first session.

Moreover,  here is the link for section 10 entitled “House rules for the preparation of the text” from the Interinstitutional Style Guide, where you can find some of the fundamental rules related to writing at the Commission:

http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100000.htm

Those of you who could not join us last week, please send me an email as a writing sample to fulfill the following task:  You need to write a formal email to a new-comer joining your Unit.  After welcoming him/her, you need to give him/her practical information concerning practical and administrative matters, e.g., directions to get your office, obtaining a badge, finding temporary accommodation, etc.  You then need to give him/her some information about the working environment at your Unit and make an appointment with him/her for an orientation tour on his/her first day.

We always start our sessions with general questions you might have, so do feel free to table them if you have any for our next meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you then,

All the best,

John
--
Noras
Rue du Moniteur, 16 Box No 3
B-1000 Brussels
Belgium

Tel: +32(0)2/217 7800