Email Writing

E-mail Writing

What is an E-mail –

• E-mail is short form of Electronic Mail.
• It is a form of letter or message written, sent as well as received electronically.

 

Purposes :

• It is written with the purpose of friendly or informal communication
• breaking some news
• giving important piece of information
• business proposal
• creating awareness
• making a request or enquiry
• advertising a project or creation
• and other communication purposes

 

Types :

Just like Letter, E-mail is of two types.

• Informal E-mail
• Formal E-mail

 

Points to remember :

• ·        The language should be formal but simple and unambiguous (clear).
• ·        The language should be formal or informal according to the type and purpose of e-mail.
• ·        Contractions, abbreviations and colloquial language should not be used.
• ·        Unnecessary information should be avoided.
• ·        Aggressive and rude language should be avoided.
• ·        Tone should be polite, cheerful and decent. (especially for formal email)
• ·        Don’t use the shortcuts of messaging. For example - gr8, cu, how r u, etc.
• ·        For business and official emails extra care needs to be take. Be strictly formal in language, tone and format.
• ·        Word limit is usually 100 – 120 but it may vary according to purpose, word limit given and marking scheme.

 

Format

Date : 06 November 2020

From : amitmehra123@gmail.com

To : ganeshtiwari009@gmail.com   ( Formal - editor@timesofindia.com )

Subject : brief (3-7 words)

Salutation (dear friend/father/sir/ma’am)

 

Content

(1-2 paragraphs)

 

Name

Designation (if required)

 

Marking Scheme –

Format – 1

Content – 3 

Expression – 4 (Fluency – 2 and Accuracy 2)            

Total – 8 marks (It may vary according to standard and board)

 Video on formal letter

Sample of E-mail (Informal)

Q1. You are Amit/Amrita. You have recently joined your college and shifted in the hostel. Write an e-mail to your father describing your experience on the first day. Write the e-mail in 100-120 words.                                                     6 marks

 

Date : 21 October 20xx

From : amitkumar.234@gmail.com

To: rakeshtiwarii0099@gmail.com

Subject : First day at hostel

Dear papa

How are you all there at home. I’m good, here. My first day at the hostel went smooth. After saying good bye to you when I was going back to the hostel, I stopped to hear rocking music. Rajesh who loves western music can’t stay without enjoying loud music and Vikram, my other roommate loves to sleep. Thus, both of them are like Tom and Jerry. But, they are nice by nature. Rajesh made Maggi for me and Vikram shared his jam with me for morning snacks. We three had good time, however I missed you all.

I liked beautiful handmade card by my lovely sis, Veenu. I miss you all. Now, I have to leave for my college and I promise I will work hard and make you feel proud. Bye.

Amit

 

Sample of E-mail (Formal)

Q2. You are Vani/Vinesh. You have read an advertisement about vacancy for a job of consultant in a media company. Write an e-mail to the Manager applying for the post and describing your candidature, qualifications and experience. Write the e-mail in 100-120 words.                                                      6 marks

 

Date : 26 December 20xx

From : vani_1234@gmail.com

To: abcmediacompany@gmail.com

Subject : Application for Post of Consultant

Sir/ma'am

With reference to your advertisement in the Hindustan Times dated 25 December 20xx for the post of a Consultant in your reputed company I wish to apply for the same.

I completed my post graduation, LLM from the reputed institute, Amity University with 92% marks.

I have got 4 years’ experience as a freelancer in the capacity of consultant online during which I completed various projects for news channels as well as magazines. I feel I would be able to deliver up to your expectations.  

Therefore, I have attached my resume herewith the email for your kind perusal. I look forward to hear from you soon.

Attachment: Resume

Thank you

Yours faithfully

Vani

Video on Story Writing 

Iswaran The Storyteller

Ishwaran the Storyteller

                     By R. K. Laxman

Analysis:

·       The story ‘Ishwaran the Storyteller’ is written by R. K. Laxman, the greatest cartoonist of India who has entertained entire country with his witty and sarcastic cartoon strips for five decades. He was also a great illustrator and humourist writing many humorous stories and books.

·       ‘Ishwaran the Storyteller’ is an interesting and humorous story about a cook named Ishwaran who was a gifted storyteller. He entertained Mahendra telling thrilling stories, but at end he made Mahendra leave his job and run away by scaring him through his imaginative and scary tales.

·       The story highlights that the storytelling is an art and not everyone can master it. Iswaran, a master of this art used to tell his master, Mahendra the gripping stories in such a graphic and dramatic manner that his listeners listened to him in complete attention and bewilderment.

·       The story involves lot of surprise, interest, twist, wit and humour which are integral elements of a good story.

·       Finally, being over enthusiastic about his stories he scared Mahendra out of his wits and made him run away from the construction site. This makes the storytellers introspect and learn that they must keep a check on the progression and the impact of their stories over the listeners.

Summary  /  Synopsis

·       This is a story about Mahendra, a junior supervisor who used to keep moving from one construction site to another wherever his firm sent him. His cook, Ishwaran was an asset to him and went with him all the places without any complaints. Ishwaran cooked his meals, washed his clothes and told him stories at night. He had an amazing capacity to produce vegetables within an hour after reaching a completely new and desolate site and cook meal. Thereby he was a great asset.

·       His descriptions and story telling were greatly influenced by the Tamil authors he used to read. This influenced his way of telling and creating his own thrillers. He used to elaborate even a simple scene of a fallen tree with lot of excitement and enactment. Mahendra used to hear the stories patiently without questioning about authenticity and credibility of the stories.

·       Once Iswaran narrated an anecdote about a wild elephant. He told the story about how he paralysed a mad elephant that created a lot of mess in the town and Ishwaran’s school where all the children and the teachers hid themselves out of fear. But, Iswaran being only a student of junior school took a rod and hit at the elephant’s third toe nail and his nervous system got paralyded. He could do that as he had read about the Japanese art of ju-jitsu or Karate.

·        One day after making and enjoying delicacies on an auspicious day dedicated to the dead ancestors he started talking about spirits. Iswaran told that the site where they were staying had been once a burial ground. He had come across skulls and bones many times, but he was not scared of them. He also told Mahendra about a female ghost with a foetus in her arms, and that she was seen only on a full moon night. This made Mahendra so uneasy that he shouted at Ishwaran telling that ghosts don't exist and went to bed. But, the thought of female ghost haunted him so much that he was scared of looking out of his window. One night he heard a low moan outside his window on a full moon night. He peered out of his window and a cloudy form was visible, which he concluded to be the female ghost. Next morning Iswaran told Mahendra that he also had seen the ghost as Ishwaran could hear the moaning from his room. Mahendra took that sad cry to be that of the ghost and finally decided to quit his job and leave that haunted place.

·       It was quite possible that Mahendra was often thinking of that woman ghost and that he had a horrible dream of female ghost that night. And that moaning was his own cry which was heard by Ishwaran coming from Mahendra’s room.

Video on Lake Isle of Innisfree

Message

·       The chapter clearly highlights that the stories told in a dramatic manner cast immense impact on the listeners leaving them in sheer amazement and involvement.

·       The story teaches us not to be superstitious. We should not be influenced or scared by superstitions like ghosts or spirits. Fear forces us to imagine things and take wrong decisions. One should be bold enough to take logical decisions in all situations. 

Theme

The theme of the story is that the storytelling is an art and not everyone can master this art. Iswaran, a master of this art used to tell gripping stories in such a graphic and dramatic manner that his listeners listened to him in complete attention and amazement.

Video on the poem Wind

The Happy Prince

The Happy Prince

                  By Oscar Wilde

Analysis:

·       The story ‘The Happy Prince’ written by Oscar Wilde is a beautiful message of kindness, compassion and charity to the humanity.

·       It is the story of a prince who was happy throughout his life but when his statue was raised after his death, he could see all the misery, poverty and ugliness around him. Now, Happy Prince was no longer happy.

·       Happy Prince and swallow true examples of true friendship, selfless love, kindness and noble spirit of sacrifice.

·       The story highlights that the worth of such kind, helpful and self sacrificing people is only understood by God and they are appreciated and valued in the kingdom of God only.

Summary /  Synopsis

This story is about a prince who was called the Happy Prince because he was always happy throughout his life and didn't know what the sorrow was. But, the things changed after his death. His happiness disappeared with his last breath.

After his death, his courtiers erected statue in the middle of the town. His statue was covered with gold leaves. Two precious sapphire stones were placed in place of eyes. A ruby stone was guilded in the handle of his sword.

The statue looked so beautiful that it enhanced the charm and magnificence of the town. But, sadly the soul of the prince captivated in the magnificent statue was not happy.

The statue was placed so high that from there, he could see misery of poverty of his people living in the town. These sights made the prince feel helpless and suffer. He used to weep to see the pitiable condition of his people.

One day a swallow bird was on its way to Egypt to meet its friends. Feeling tired it decided to rest and sat at the feet of the statue was on its way. Suddenly, the bird realised that the statue wasn't able to protect it from rain. Later, it got to know that the statue was weeping. The prince told the reason of his misery and requested the bird to help his people by becoming its messenger. The bird agreed to help and took the ruby stone out of the sword hilt and delivered it to a poor seamstress was tired and hungry and her son was sick and hungry. Poor seamstress didn't have anything for his food and medicine, except for river water. The gift of ruby was a great help.

The next morning, swallow wanted to continue his journey and went to seek the permission of the prince, he requested him to stay for one more day and help a playwright by giving him one of the sapphires from the statue’s eyes. The playwright was required to write a play but he didn't have coal to keep himself warm. Next day the bird was requested by the prince to remove the second sapphire for a poor match girl who had dropped all her matches in the gutter and couldn't earn anything. Her father would beat her for the mistake. 

The bird was too sad to see the prince blind and helpless. He couldn't see anything and swallow decided to help the prince by being with him. The weather gradually was becoming severely cold and the bird also had developed an emotion of love for the prince who now asked the bird to go around the city and tell him the condition of his people in the town. The bird told him that the rich were making merry while the poor were starving. The happy prince ordered the bird to remove the gold covering from his statue and distribute them among the needy and the destitute.

After some time the poor kids grew rosier and the people became joyous as they had enough to eat whereas the prince lost all the covering of gold and became dull and grey. The swallow was now unable to bear the extreme cold weather and realised that his death was approaching. It bid the statue final goodbye by kissing him on his lips. As the bird died and fell at the statue’s feet, a painful sound was heard; it was the sound of his broken heart.

When the Mayor was taking round of the city, he saw the ugly statue and ordered his councillors to pull down the statue. When the statue was being melted in the furnace, the heart did not melt and was thrown in the garbage. It happened to fall near the swallow’s dead body.

In the garden of Eden God asked the Angels to bring him two most precious things from the earth. The angels took the dead swallow and the broken heart and presented to God as the most precious things from earth.

Message from the story

The story imparts us a beautiful message that kindness, compassion and charity are the finest virtues. The write also emphasises that the worth of such kind, helpful and self-sacrificing people is only understood by God and they are appreciated and valued in the kingdom of God only. The people like Mayor and his councillors discard such kind people as worthless.

The story also gives a beautiful message of selfless love and friendship. Happy Prince and swallow true examples of true friendship, selfless love and noble spirit of sacrifice.

Irony in the title

The title of the story ‘The Happy Prince’ is ironical. The Prince was happy only in his lifetime just because he was kept away from all the miseries of life and ugliness of this world. The statue of Happy Prince was never happy, rather it was the saddest soul in the city.