Effective e-mail communication is important both in college and in the workplace. The best e-mails are brief and focused and have an informative subject line that helps the receiver quickly determine your e-mail’s purpose and whether your message needs immediate attention.
Rewrite the following e-mail messages to ensure that they convey the most important information. If necessary, edit to make the tone more professional, the subject line more informative, and the message more efficient.
To: Instructor
From: Student
Re: Class
How’s it going? I’m thinking I’m going to be late to class tomorrow night. We have a sales meeting at work tomorrow at 3 p.m. which will probably go until 4 p.m. My boss is a talker, so maybe even later. Since my car died, I’ve been taking the bus. I’ll have to look at the schedule to tell you when I’ll be able to get to class. Maybe around 4:45 or 5:00 if I don’t miss the bus. Be sure to let me know if you talk about anything important before I arrive. See you then!
To: Boss
From: Employee
Re: Important — Impending Vacation
I remember you saying we should check with you to schedule our vacation. I am thinking about going somewhere warm this year — maybe Florida or Arizona. If I go to Florida, I might drive. If I go to Arizona, I might fly there. Either way, I would like to go sometime in the next six months — maybe in late February when it is still cold. Maybe I could take the last week of February? If not, the second to last week of February would be good too. Let me know what you think so I can begin to plan my vacation. Thanks!