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informal emails

for the june holidays, i was assigned to write one informal email as a practice for my english examinations ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

i was quite excited about this as i didn't have much experience writing informal emails (or informal anythings, for that matter). 

unfortunately, i received a very low grade for my work, along with negative feedback:

did not understand the question's context. informal style lacking. overall logic lacking.

my immediate reaction to such a devastating blow to my self-esteem was to blame it on the question topic. i never liked mental health topics, as i found it dastardly boring to write about. plus, i had evidence to back up this claim! previously, i had written a formal email regarding recycling e-waste and received a 23/30. part of that amazing great is undoubtedly attributed to my passionate interest in electronics (and recycling, somewhat).

ugh, i guess i'll just hope that the topic in the examinations won't be about mental health.

buttt, the topic isn't the only thing that caused my low grade. apparently, i had a lot of inconsistencies in my writing. for example, my topic sentence would mention how my cousin could benefit from the mental health workshop, but my next sentence would talk about the workshop's advantages for both me and my cousin. this was what my teacher was referring to when she wrote "overall logic lacking".

additionally, my attempt at sounding descriptively informal about the pros of attending an online workshop ended up coming across like an advertisement. i guess i was TOO enthusiastic...

hmm, i need to do some research on what exactly is an informal tone. because it definitely isn't being conversational in an email (and conveniently forgetting my subject), and neither is it going off for an ad break in the middle of a paragraph.

i asked perplexity ai and this is what it said:

Characteristics of Informal Tone in Emails

  • Conversational language: Uses everyday words and phrases.
  • Personal touch: May include personal anecdotes or emotions.
  • Contractions: Words like "I'm," "you're," "can't," and "we'll" are common.
  • Simple greetings and closings: Such as "Hi," "Hey," "Cheers," or "Thanks!"
  • Shorter sentences: More direct and to the point.
what a handy little checklist to keep me in check! i'll surely keep this in the corner of my mind when writing informal emails in the future (〃 ̄︶ ̄〃)

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