Business English

Professional English for the corporate world.

Email essentials

Opening

Formality	Opening
Formal	🔊 Dear Mr./Ms. [Last name],
Standard	🔊 Hi [First name],
Informal	🔊 Hey [Name],

Common phrases

Purpose	Phrase
Reason	🔊 "I'm writing to inquire about..."
Follow-up	🔊 "Following up on our conversation..."
Attachment	🔊 "Please find attached..."
Request	🔊 "I would appreciate it if you could..."
Clarification	🔊 "Could you please clarify...?"

Closing

Formality	Closing
Formal	🔊 "Sincerely," / 🔊 "Best regards,"
Standard	🔊 "Best," / 🔊 "Thanks,"
Informal	🔊 "Cheers,"

Meetings

Starting

• 🔊 "Let's get started."
• 🔊 "The purpose of this meeting is to..."
• 🔊 "I'd like to begin by..."

Participating

• 🔊 "I'd like to add that..."
• 🔊 "Could you elaborate on that?"
• 🔊 "If I understand correctly..."
• 🔊 "Going back to what [Name] said..."

Ending

• 🔊 "To summarize the key points..."
• 🔊 "The next steps are..."
• 🔊 "Let's schedule a follow-up for..."

Presentations

Opening

• 🔊 "Today I'm going to talk about..."
• 🔊 "I'll be covering three main points."
• 🔊 "Feel free to ask questions at the end."

Transitions

• 🔊 "Moving on to..."
• 🔊 "Now let's look at..."
• 🔊 "This brings me to my next point."

Closing

• 🔊 "To wrap up..."
• 🔊 "In conclusion..."
• 🔊 "Are there any questions?"

Polite language

English uses indirect language for politeness:

Direct	Polite
🔊 Give me the report.	🔊 Could you send me the report?
🔊 I want a meeting.	🔊 I was hoping we could schedule a meeting.
🔊 You're wrong.	🔊 I see it differently.
🔊 Do this by Friday.	🔊 It would be great if this could be done by Friday.

Phrasal verbs in business

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example
🔊 follow up	check on progress	🔊 "I'll follow up next week."
🔊 bring up	mention	🔊 "I'd like to bring up an issue."
🔊 go over	review	🔊 "Let's go over the numbers."
🔊 put off	postpone	🔊 "We need to put off the launch."
🔊 turn down	reject	🔊 "They turned down our proposal."
🔊 come up with	create/invent	🔊 "We need to come up with a solution."

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