Professional emails should open with a greeting and the title and name of the recipient (e.g., “Dear Dr. Livingstone”). It is polite to also include an introductory line such as “I hope this email finds you well” before presenting the purpose of the email.
Less formal emails might include a more casual opening line, such as “I hope you are doing well.”
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The timing of sending a follow-up email depends on context. It is hard to imagine a situation where a follow-up email would be appropriate within a week. If your original email was a “cold call” marketing email, then you can wait a couple of weeks even.
If you are following up on a job interview, then it will also depend on what you were told at the interview. If it was said that a decision would take a week or two, then a follow-up before that might seem pushy.
On the other hand, a delay of three weeks or more runs the risk of being interpreted as a lack of interest. Use your judgment to gauge the appropriate time span.
When ending an email to a professor, take a more formal approach, especially when interacting with the person for the first time.
First, be sure to clearly indicate any actions you would like the professor to take. The purpose of your email and what you expect from the professor should be clear.
Then, there are a number of sign-offs you can use to end the email, such as:
Avoid using overly informal language like slang or “Cheers.”
Try QuillBot’s rephraser to vary your writing.
When starting an email to a professor, it is best to take a more formal approach to avoid making a poor impression. In the greeting, use “Dear” followed by a title and the professor’s last name (e.g., “Dear Professor/Dr. Willow,”).
You can follow the greeting with a number of opening lines before diving into the purpose of your message, such as:
You can also use “I’m reaching out …” if you prefer to come straight to the point.
You can adapt the tone of your emails according to the professor’s response. For example, if they greet you with “Hi/Hello” in their reply, you can adopt the same style.
However, continue to use their title (unless they explicitly give you permission to address them otherwise), and avoid using overly informal language like slang or “Cheers.”
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
Mx. is a gender-neutral title that can be used for people who do not identify as male or female or do not want to have their gender specified. It is used in the same way as titles like “Ms.” or “Mr.” (e.g., “Mx. Nande”).
“Mx.” is followed by a period to match the form of other titles, but it is not an abbreviation of anything. The x is used like a statistical value to indicate that the person’s gender is unspecified.
Ms. is a title used for any adult woman (e.g., “Ms. Genji”). Unlike “Miss” or “Mrs.,” “Ms.” does not indicate a woman’s marital status and is therefore the female equivalent of the masculine title “Mr.”
“Ms.” is not an abbreviation for anything, and it does not stand for “Miss.” It is pronounced [miz], but it is always written as “Ms.”
Per is a preposition that has several meanings. Probably its most common use is almost invisible—in the abbreviation “mph (miles per hour),” where it means “each.”
It’s commonly used in newspaper reporting to mean “according to” (e.g., “The President has been kept informed, per sources close to the Oval Office”).
Per is often found in the phrase per our conversation in emails and letters (e.g., “Per our conversation yesterday, could you let me have the new draft proposal by Friday, please?”).
Per can also refer to how often something happens (e.g., “Take one tablet once per day”), or it can have the meaning of “every” (e.g., there are more cafes per square mile than in any other city”).
Per is also commonly used in the phrase per se to mean “intrinsically” or “by itself” (e.g., “The film isn’t bad per se, but it can’t compare to the book”).
As per is most commonly seen in phrases such as “As per our conversation yesterday, could you send me the new brief?”
It is sometimes seen as overly formal or officious. There are other ways of expressing the same idea (e.g., “According to the meeting minutes, we are due to finish on Wednesday”).
There are other options too (e.g., “to clarify” if you want to overcome confusion or “as discussed” to recap or summarize the agreement).
Try our sentence rephraser to vary your writing and express your intended meaning.
If you want to write a follow-up email after an interview, there are some important points to bear in mind:
Remember to proofread your email carefully, and make sure that the tone is appropriate and not too “pushy.”
You can use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to make sure there are no spelling or grammar errors.
If an earlier email has received no response, it can be a good idea to follow up. But it is very easy to get a follow-up email wrong. The recipient doesn’t owe you anything, and they may be busy. Here are some tips to help you get it right:
If you keep your email relevant and respectful and give it a clear call to action, you have more chance of the recipient responding.
It’s important to proofread your email carefully. You can use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to make sure there are no spelling or grammar errors.
“Sincerely” or “Sincerely yours” are sign-offs that are typically used when you’re ending an email to someone you’ve been in contact with before as opposed to someone you are reaching out to for the first time.
“Yours truly” was traditionally used when contacting a stranger and was usually paired with the greeting “Dear Sir or Madam.” It is not frequently used nowadays, especially in emails. Instead, a sign-off like “Regards” is more common.
QuillBot’s rewording tool can help you vary your written vocabulary.
In informal situations, we usually introduce ourselves with the phrase:
In formal situations, we also give our last name:
We also use the phrase I’m…, particularly if there is a reason that the person might already know who we are, e.g.:
After you’ve given your name, you can say “Pleased to meet you.”
These phrases can also be used to introduce yourself in an email.
QuillBot’s rewording tool can help expand your writing in new ways.
Earliest convenience is used as part of the common phrase at your earliest convenience. It means “the first moment when you can reasonably find time to do it.”
It’s often used to end an email in a professional setting by asking the other person to do something when they have time in their schedule.
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
At your earliest convenience is a phrase used to end an email or other message by asking someone to do something (e.g., reply, complete some task) as soon as they can find the time to do so.
Some alternatives that express the same idea with more or less specificity are:
Our sentence rephraser can help you vary your writing and express your intended meaning.
Yours truly is used as a formal sign-off to end an email or letter. Yours sincerely and Yours faithfully are considered synonyms of Yours truly, but there are some regional and traditional distinctions:
QuillBot’s rewording tool can help expand your writing in new ways.
Yours truly is a common sign-off in formal correspondence. It’s typically used when you’re writing to someone you haven’t communicated with before.
“Truly yours” is less commonly used than Yours truly. However, this and alternative forms of the sign-off are used in some contexts. For example, “Very truly yours” is commonly used by attorneys to end an email or letter.
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
Your sincerely is a common misspelling of the email sign-off Yours sincerely.
The phrase consists of the possessive pronoun “yours” and the adverb “sincerely” and does not make use of the possessive adjective “your.”
It’s used to end an email to someone you’ve already had correspondence with.
Yours truly is a common sign-off in formal correspondence. It’s typically used when you’re writing to someone you haven’t communicated with before.
Similar expressions to “I hope you’re doing well” include:
Automatically rephrase your sentences to express your desired meaning.
Just checking in is an expression used to start an email. It is intended to be a friendly way to prompt someone to respond or perform a given action.
However, because it is so commonly used to remind someone of something they need to do, it can come across as passive-aggressive. To avoid this, it can be replaced with other expressions, such as “I’d love to get an update on …”
In more personal contexts, “just checking in” is often used when asking about someone’s well-being (e.g., “I just wanted to check in on you”). Here, it doesn’t have a passive-aggressive connotation.
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
“Dear Sir or Madam” is similar to “To Whom It May Concern” in that both expressions are impersonal and do not specify the recipient using their name.
“Dear Sir or Madam” is the more appropriate choice when you are addressing a single person, whereas “To Whom It May Concern” is suitable when you are addressing a group or organization.
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
It is generally best to adapt your greeting to the person you are addressing by using their name. If this isn’t possible, you can also use organization or department names or the person’s title.
Though it is somewhat impersonal and dated, “Dear Sir or Madam” can be used if you cannot find any information about the person you want to address.
Our sentence rephraser can help you vary your writing and express your intended meaning.
Technically, “hope you’re doing well” is not grammatically correct as it lacks a subject, but the expression is used regardless because the implied subject “I” is clear.
However, it is preferable to include the subject “I” in formal contexts (“I hope you’re doing well”).
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
The correct form of the expression is “hope you’re doing well” or “I hope you’re doing well” because “you’re” is the contraction of the object “you” and the auxiliary verb “are.”
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you use your and you’re correctly.
There are a number of synonyms and similar expressions to “looking forward to hearing from you,” such as:
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
“Looking forward to hear from you” is incorrect because the phrasal verb “look forward to” requires a direct object, i.e., what you’re looking forward to. The direct object must be a noun phrase, and therefore the gerund “hearing” is needed rather than the verb “hear.”
The correct version of this expression is “looking forward to hearing from you.” “Look forward to” is a phrasal verb that always uses the preposition “to,” not “in.”
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
Kind regards (or kindest regards) is used to end an email or other forms of correspondence. It is semiformal and suitable for professional contexts.
Kind regards is slightly less formal than “sincerely yours” and “yours truly,” but it has a slightly more formal tone than “warm regards.”
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
Synonyms and alternatives to regards include:
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
“To Whom It May Concern” is a formal greeting used to address a nonspecific person or multiple readers, particularly if you do not anticipate receiving a response (e.g., when making an announcement).
“Dear” is a neutral greeting that can be used in both formal and informal contexts. “Dear” is followed by the name of the recipient and a comma (e.g., “Dear Biran,”).
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
“Miss” is a title used for a young unmarried woman or girl (e.g, “Miss Muffet”). It is not used for a married woman. “Miss” is often considered dated, so it is preferable to use “Ms.”
“Mrs.” is a title used for a married woman.
“Ms.” is a title for woman who is married or whose marital status is unknown, for an older unmarried woman, or for situations where marital status is not emphasized. It can be used both for married and unmarried women in the same way that “Mr.” is used for unmarried and married men. Nowadays, “Ms.” is the most common way to address a woman, as it is unrelated to marital status.
“I hope this email finds you well” is an opening line to politely begin an email before you present the email’s purpose or make a request. Related phrases and synonyms include:
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
