Listening Content

[1:02] Guide to Tone in Video Emails for English Business Communication

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This article introduces how to manage tone in video emails for English business communication, including distinguishing between formal and informal language, direct and indirect expression, and choosing the appropriate tone based on relationships, context, and requests.

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Content

In the last lesson, you learned how to write the subject line, the greeting, and the closing in an email. You also learned some guidelines to use email effectively and professionally. In this lesson, we'll look at tone. Tone is very important in business communication because if you don't get it right, you might sound rude and unprofessional.

Tone is made up of how formal or informal you are and how direct or indirect you are. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to distinguish between formal and informal language, distinguish between direct and indirect language, and choose the appropriate tone based on the relationship, the context, and the request.

Listening Comprehension

appropriate
verb
1. give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause
e.g. I will earmark this money for your research
She sets aside time for meditation every day
Synonym: allowearmarkset asidereserve
2. take possession of by force, as after an invasion
e.g. the invaders seized the land and property of the inhabitants
The army seized the town
The militia captured the castle
Synonym: captureseizeconquer
communication
noun
1. something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups
2. the activity of communicating
the activity of conveying information
e.g. they could not act without official communication from Moscow
Synonym: communicating
3. a connection allowing access between persons or places
e.g. how many lines of communication can there be among four people?
a secret passageway provided communication between the two rooms
professional
noun
1. an authority qualified to teach apprentices
Synonym: master
2. a person engaged in one of the learned professions
Synonym: professional person
3. an athlete who plays for pay
Synonym: pro