[SOUND] Welcome to Module 2 of your Capstone. In this module, Email Excellence. You will review the key points for effective emails that you learned in the Writing Professional Emails in English course with me. You will also practice and develop your accuracy in English as you write emails. Our focus for this first lesson will include writing different types of sentences. Making parallel structures using gerunds, which is the verb plus ing. And infinitives, which is two plus the verb. And organizing with transition words like first, however and therefore. Now, let's start by reviewing some of the things we covered earlier in the email writing course. What are the key points for effective emails? First, for the format or appearance of your email you should have a professional email address. A clear, brief subject line. An easy to read greeting, email text and closing. Next, for the style and tone of your emails, you want to be sure that you clearly state the purpose. Use the active voice. Maintain a logical order so that your reader easily understands your message. Avoid negative or demanding language. Apply correct punctuation and capitalization. Use key language appropriate to the type of email and consider your audience's cultural requirements. Before continuing, let me ask you a question. What is most important when you write an email? That's right, all of these are important. While one may appear more important to you than another, your emails really need all three to be effective. Pay attention to these three components and you are most likely to send successful emails and build strong relationships. Let's now focus on expanding your skills to develop your writing style. A strong writing style will enhance all components of effective emailing. To do so, we'll look at sentence types, parallel structure and word choice. First, let's look at some different sentence types. An easy way to make your emails and your writing in general more interesting is to use a variety of sentence types. What are some of them? First, simple sentences have one independent clause as in this example, my boss emailed me this morning. As you can see here, an independent clause contains one subject, one verb and makes sense by itself. Second, compound sentences have multiple independent clauses. In other words, two simple sentences connected with the conjunction or what you learned as FANBOYS. For, and, nor, but, or, yet and so. My boss emailed me this morning and I replied almost immediately. My boss emailed me this morning, but I couldn't reply immediately. Lastly, we'll look at complex sentences. Complex sentences have an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Dependent clauses do not make sense by themselves, so they have to be added to an independent clause. They often begin with a word like after, before, since, while or because. For example, after I answered her questions, I talked to my team. I talked to my team because I needed their opinions. So, as you write your emails, try to include the variety of these sentences. They will help enhance your writing style and keep your emails interesting what students need to understand. Another way to improve your writing style is to use parallel structure. Parallel structure means using the same word, phrase or clause patterns in your sentences when there are two or more listed in the series. For example, look at these two sentences. Your new project is innovative and beneficial. Your new project is innovative and a benefit. Which one do you think is parallel? That's right. A uses an adjective and adjective structure. B uses a noun here when it should have another adjective. So B is not parallel, which makes this sentence incorrect. Let's take a look at some more examples that have a parallel structure. Here's a parallel structure with gerunds or the ing form of words. I like running, swimming and playing football. And here it is with the infinitive phrases or to plus the simple form of a verb. I like to run, to swim and to play football. It would be incorrect to write I like running, swimming and to play football. For this sentence, you can also write it like this. I like to run, swim and play football. Finally, here's parallel structure with clauses. This type of sentence is a little harder, so look closely at how the parallel structure is created. I tell my students they should first write the email, then take a break and finally check it completely. To check that your words, phrases and clauses are following the same patterns. Read over your email looking for a series of two or more words written with and and or. Then check to see whether these items they join are parallel. If not, make them parallel. Another way to carefully check for parallel structure is to read your email out loud and listen to the sound of the words in a sentence. Do they follow the same pattern? Again, if they don't, change them so that they do. Let's practice. Which is correct? I love reading, shopping, and to watch movies. Or I love reading, shopping and watching movies. That's right, B is correct. How about this one? The manager writes reports quickly, accurately and in a careful way. Or the manager writes reports quickly, accurately and carefully. Again, B is correct. Finally, I'd like to discuss another way to make your emails more precise and easier to understand by using transition words. These are words that connect your ideas and sentences to each other. We use different transition words for different purposes. If you're comparing, use words to show how things are the same. For example, this assignment is like the one I did last week. My new office is similar to my old one. When you want to show contrast, you can use transition words like however or on the other hand. I didn't want to switch departments, however I decided to apply for the new position. The new position pays more and is very interesting. On the other hand, I would have to move to a new city if I take this position. And to show the result of something, you can use transitions such as therefore or as as result. The boss is out of town. Therefore, the next meeting will be postponed until Friday. There's a new price plan for the product. As a result, we have to move the launch date. There are many more transition words in English and you probably already know a lot of them. Always think about including them when you write your emails. They will help your reader better understand your message and enhance your writing style. I've added some more information about transition words as resources, so check them out. In this lesson, we reviewed some basic facts about email appearance. And looked at ways to improve your style with three different types of sentences such as simple sentences. Compound sentences and complex sentences. Parallel structure and a variety of transition words. As you write and respond to more and more emails, your clarity and your style will improve. As we say, practice makes perfect. I'll see you in our next lesson, where we learn to write emails to network. [SOUND]
