Bcc, or “blind carbon copy,” is a way to send an email to someone without other recipients seeing. The bcc’d recipient(s) will be able to see anyone in the “to” and “cc” fields, but only the sender can see who has been bcc’d. Anyone bcc’d on an email will not be included in “reply all” messages.
There are different ways to send someone an email, which are summarized in the following table.
Published on
July 1, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
March 12, 2025
Sincerely yours is commonly used as a sign-off before your name to end an email or letter. You typically use it when you’re writing to someone you already know to some extent.
Sincerely yours consists of the adverbsincerely (which means “genuinely”) and the possessive pronounyours. The sign-off should always be followed by a comma. It’s used in a similar way to Yours truly, although that’s traditionally used for people you haven’t communicated with before. Nowadays, this distinction is no longer as strict.
Example: Sincerely yoursDear Miss Levy,
I am writing to ask you about …
Sincerely yours,
Mercedes Akafi
Whether you have or haven’t communicated with someone before, it’s important that your emails don’t contain spelling and grammar mistakes. The QuillBot Grammar Checker can help you with this.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
March 12, 2025
Yours truly is commonly used as a sign-off before your name to end an email or letter. You typically use it when you’re writing to someone you haven’t communicated with before.
Yours truly consists of the possessive pronounyours and the adverbtruly (which is often misspelled “truely”) and is followed by a comma. It’s used in a similar way to Sincerely yours. However, “Sincerely yours” is traditionally used for people you have communicated with before. Nowadays, this distinction is no longer as strict.
When using “Yours truly” and other formal sign-offs, you should always capitalize the first letter of the first word. You can use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to check for this and other spelling and grammar mistakes.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
March 12, 2025
At your earliest convenience is a phrase commonly used at the end of a professional email to request someone to do something as soon as reasonably possible.
The phrase is typically considered professional and polite, but it’s not specific and might cause confusion or miscommunication. In some cases, it’s better to use one of our three alternatives to end an email to make sure the other person understands the level of urgency.
You might see the phrase per our conversation in an email, letter, or note, and you might not know exactly what it means. You might also see the variation “as per our conversation,” which has the same meaning.
“Per” is a preposition, and here it means “according to” (e.g., “according to our conversation last week”), but it can also mean “as we agreed” or “just to clarify.” In American English, it is commonly used in newspapers to mean “according to” (e.g., “per a source familiar with the meeting”).
Per our conversation can be a useful way to remind someone about or clarify an agreement. It is worth bearing in mind that the phrase is quite formal and will look out of place in more informal settings.
It is useful to have a range of different ways of communicating the meaning of per our conversation in situations where that exact phrase would be out of place. Below are some suggestions for you to use.
When introducing yourself in an email, you need to choose an appropriate:
Greeting (e.g., “Dear Mr. Chan”)
Sign-off (e.g., “Best regards”)
Level of formality
These will depend on the purpose of the email and whether you know the name of the person who will read it.
Introductory emails also use a lot of fixed phrases (e.g., “looking forward to hearing from you”), which mainly come at the start and end of the correspondence.
There are several situations where you might think about writing a follow-up email. Or you might hate the idea, but your head tells you it’s the right thing to do. This is most likely when:
You haven’t heard back after what seemed like a positive job interview.
You have written a cold-call email to a potential client and haven’t heard back.
You have responded to an online query from your website, but there has been no reply to your email.
It can be an unnerving experience, and there is always the risk that you will be seen as pushy. Being pushy, of course, is not going to get you the result you want.
By considering the following guidelines for each component of the email, you can make your follow-up email more effective.
Emails are a key communication tool in academic as well as professional contexts. Starting emails with an appropriate greeting and opening line is crucial to setting the right tone and making a good impression on the recipient.
There are a variety of greetings and openings that you can use. Consider the relationship you have with the recipient to ensure that you choose appropriate options for the context.
Ms., Mrs., and Miss are titles used to designate women in formal contexts, such as at the start of an email or when meeting someone for the first time.
Traditionally, the correct term to use is based on the woman’s age and marital status. Today, the first consideration should be the individual’s own preference for how she should be addressed.
Ms. (pronounced [miz]) can be used for any woman regardless of marital status.
Mrs. (pronounced [miss-iz]) is used for a married woman regardless of age.
Miss (pronounced [miss]) has traditionally been used for unmarried women of any age but is now more typically used only for girls under the age of 18.
Just checking in is a common expression used to start an email or other correspondence. It is often used to follow up on a message sent before or to request an update on an ongoing activity. It is intended to be friendly but still alert the recipient that you anticipate a response.
However, this expression is overused and may come across as passive-aggressive, so it is better avoided. When contacting someone to follow up on a previously discussed topic or project, you should avoid a pushy or insincere tone.
The following alternatives encourage a response without seeming to place pressure on the recipient.
