英语职场邮件：会议邀请与回复技巧指南

Hello again. This is the second lesson in our module about meeting someone. In this lesson, we will be returning to email. You'll learn how to invite someone to an event. You'll also learn how to respond to an invitation, accepting, saying yes, and declining, saying no politely. So let's get started. Let me ask you a question. If someone was on a business trip to your hometown and you wanted to invite them to do something social outside of the office with you, what would you choose? Look at this list of options and select all that apply. All of those choices are possible, things to invite someone to, but of course, what you choose depends on where you are, how well you know the other person, what that person's interests are, and how much you want to spend. However, probably the most common and easiest social event to arrange is to invite someone to lunch or coffee.

Let's look at an example, email invitation. Read these questions and then read the email to find the answers. So what makes a good invitation email? Let's look at that email step by step. First, the subject line was clear. Alan probably understands what the email will be about. What do you think these emails will be about? Notice that adding the question mark shows that the email will probably be an invitation. As you learned in module four on telephone, you should have details about what, when, and where. In an email, we can write what we want to invite the other person to in the first line. Here are some examples. Sometimes, when we make an invitation, we use very indirect language, because we are not sure if the other person will accept. Remember, past forms like I was wondering and I was thinking can make the language sound more indirect.

Next, you should give details of time. Often we do this as a question. And of course, we should give details of the location. And sending a link or map directions would be a good idea if the other person doesn't know the area. It should also be clear what the purpose of the meeting will be. Who pays for business lunches? In the US, if you're a special client or customer, you won't pay when you're invited to lunch. But if you have a more equal relationship as business associates or acquaintances, you may split the cost of lunch. In this email, Alan understands that this is a special request because Gail says, my treat. This is an informal way to say that I'm going to pay. Finally, there should be a sentence asking the reader to contact the writer to either accept or decline the invitation.

Now, let's look at another example email invitation. Again, read these questions and then read the email to find the answers. This is a more formal invitation, so let's look at some of the language. Here are some ways to make the invitation more formal in the first line. When we want to give details of the location and time, we can use expressions like, will be held or will take place. Here are some more examples to give further details of the event. Notice that we often use will when we give details. And here are some more formal ways to ask people to let you know if they will come. RSVP is an abbreviation of the French respond easy reply, which means please reply. But we usually write and say RSVP. So now we know how to invite someone informally and formally in an email. We write a clear subject line, then we make the invitation, give details of time, date and location, we give the purpose of the meeting and we ask for a response.

So let's do a quiz to review what we have learned about tone in email invitation. Let's now look at what you should do when you receive an email inviting you to an event. You'll start by learning how you can accept an invitation, we'll use the two examples in the previous section. When you accept an invitation, you should say thank you, confirm that you can make it and end with a friendly closing sentence. You should also ask any questions to clarify any details if necessary. Here is Alan's response to Gales invitation. Here is the response to the more formal invitation to the reception. Notice that it has similar content and organisation as the first email, but with more formal language. Here are some expressions to say thank you to an invitation. The first one here is informal and these two expressions are more formal. Here are some expressions to accept the invitation. Here are some expressions to confirm the meeting time and date. And finally, here are some expressions to close the email. All of these are neutral. First we can repeat our thank you and then add a look forward expression.

So to review, when we accept an invitation, we thank the person, confirm that we can come, ask any questions, and end with a friendly closing sentence. So, let's do a short quiz to review the language of accepting an invitation. But what should you do if you are not able to or don't want to accept an invitation? Again, let's use our two examples from before. When you decline an invitation, you should thank the writer, apologise and give a reason for not accepting. Mention hoping to be able to meet in the future or make a suggestion for an alternative plan. And again, end with a friendly closing sentence. Let's look at the email Alan would write if he couldn't accept Gale's invitation. Now, here is the response to the more formal invitation to the reception. Notice that it has the same content and organisation as before, but with more formal language. Here are some expressions for apologising. Notice how we use words like unfortunately and but. When we give a reason for why we can't make it, we don't have to give a detailed reason why, because it could make the other person feel not as important. Take a look at this example. What we can do is give a vague reason. Here are some examples giving vague or less detailed reasons. Here are some expressions for hoping to meet in the future. If you want to suggest an alternative time, you can use expressions like these. So to review, declining an invitation, we thank the person for the invitation, then apologise for not being able to come and give a reason why not. Follow that with a sentence hoping to be able to meet in the future and then end with a friendly closing sentence.

So, now you know how to write an invitation email and how to answer one. You have some formal expressions and some more informal ones. Now you're going to put what you've learnt into practice in this lessons assignment.