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Reading/Speaking/Writing
Avoiding email misunderstandings
Aims

Tasks

To introduce and practise techniques for avoiding

Analyse examples of emails likely to offend / cause

offence and misunderstandings in writing.

misunderstandings.

Write short emails to practise the techniques.

Lead-in
Match the words and phrases in bold with the definitions below.
1 What information can you convey using your voice (i.e. face-to-face or over the phone) that you cant
convey by email?
2 Why is tone of voice important in spoken communication?
3 How can you change the tone of emails?
4 Have you ever been offended by the tone of an email from a colleague?
5 Has anyone ever taken offence at one of your emails?
6 Do you ever get the wrong end of the stick in email communication?
7 Can you think of any words or grammar structures which could be ambiguous?
8 When you write emails, do you expect the reader to read between the lines?
9 In your culture, do you often use black humour, irony or sarcasm? Why could this be a problem in email
writing?
10 In your culture, do you tend to make requests using blunt language, or is it necessary to use more subtle
language?
11 How can you avoid email misunderstandings?
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n

become sad or angry because of a lack of respect

insulted, emotionally hurt
jokes to make a sad or bad situation feel less serious
situations where one person fails to communicate the correct message
delicate, indirect
using words with heavy intonation to communicate exactly the opposite of their literal meaning
(e.g. Oh fantastic! Thats all I need = Im really angry. Thats just what I dont need!)
intonation, etc, used to express emotions when speaking
to communicate a message
very direct, with no concern for the listener/readers feelings
using irony or black humour in a rather aggressive way in order to make the other person feel bad
to understand the hidden meaning behind the actual words spoken/written
emotion or attitude of the writer/speaker, e.g. angry, enthusiastic, disappointed
to understand something in completely the wrong way
having two or more meanings

Speaking
Now discuss the questions above with a partner. Use examples from real life, if you can. Try to use the
words in bold in your answers.

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Reading/Speaking/Writing
Avoiding email misunderstandings
Analysis
Look at the following extracts from emails. For each extract, decide (a) what the writer was trying to say, and
(b) why the reader might misunderstand the message.
Extract 1: I know how much you love staying late at the office, so youll be pleased to hear that the report
is now due on Tuesday, not Thursday as I told you last week.
Extract 2: The management team have rejected your request for a bonus after the work you did in the
takeover negotiations, which I thought was well justified.
Extract 3: Unless you fail to inform us in advance of your inability to attend the training event, you will not
be billed for those presentations which you cannot avoid missing.
Extract 4: Have I ever told you youre a terrible liar? At todays meeting, when you said youd be happy to
work as part of the project team, everyone could see it was the last thing you wanted to do!
Extract 5: Im not convinced that this is really the best approach to this problem. Also, Im a little
concerned about the budget for this project. It seems to be rather on the optimistic side.
Extract 6: Come to my office immediately. I want you to explain whats happening with the client accounts
youre responsible for.
Extract 7: Ive been thinking about new product launch. Why dont you try to find out what our competitors
spent to launch their products?
Extract 8: Ive heard many great explanations for missed targets, but yours is the best Ive ever seen. Would
you be kind enough to come to my office to discuss this, if you have time, of course?
Extract 9: Please give me your answer by the end of the week. It does matter whether I have it on Friday
afternoon or first thing Monday morning.
Extract 10: Im up to my eyes at the moment, drowning in a sea of deadlines. If theres anyone else who
can do it, itd be much appreciated. But if youre really stuck, Ill do my best to find the time.
Extract 11: Your contribution to this project has been outstanding, and you have been an absolutely critical
member of the team.
Extract 12: We need to sit down together to work out the details. Id rather meet by teleconference then
face to face, if at all possible.

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Reading/Speaking/Writing
Avoiding email misunderstandings
Review
Match the 12 extracts with the comments and advice below. With a partner, decide how to improve each
of the extracts.
a. You may think its funny to call people names face-to-face, but you always risk being misunderstood. A
simple joke can very easily become very unpleasant for both sides.
b. Emphatic do/does is a great technique in spoken English, but in written language, quick readers might
read it as a negative! If you want to use it, make it bold or underline it.
c. If you add a comment/opinion about a statement, make sure its clear which statement youre
commenting on! Be especially careful with relative clauses.
d. Check your spelling. A simple mistake like then/than could completely change your message.
e. Some words are ambiguous. Outstanding could mean excellent or late/overdue. Critical could mean
extremely important or full of negativity. Use simple words.
f. Be very careful with multiple negatives, including words with negative meanings like unless, avoid,
otherwise, etc. As a general rule, dont have more than one negative word per sentence.
g. Dont be too blunt! If you say I want you to explain XYZ, theres a power relationship between I
and you that many people consider unacceptable in modern business. Its better to say We need to
discuss XYZ.
h. Avoid black humour. If youre giving bad news, use simple, sympathetic language, like Im afraid
i. Some phrases are ambiguous. For example, Why dont you do XYZ? could be a way of making a
simple suggestion (like How about doing XYZ?), but it could also be a very direct request for an
explanation. In speech, they have different intonation. In writing, avoid them.
j. Sarcasm is not only extremely rude but also likely to be misunderstood. If you have a serious problem
to discuss with a colleague, tell them directly. Even better phone them.
k. If youre writing to other non-native speakers of English, your clever idioms are likely to be
misunderstood. And if you cant do a favour for someone, dont hide your answer in vague language.
Say Im really sorry, but I cant help you this time.
l. Sometimes we hide our criticisms in such delicate language that its difficult for the other person to
notice it. A simple phrase like Theres a problem with or a polite instruction like Could you
please? is much easier to understand.

Practice
In pairs, choose one of the extracts in exercise 3. Improve it and expand it into a full email (no more than
5 or 6 lines long). Then pass it on to another pair, who will write a reply. Use the techniques presented in
this worksheet.

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Reading/Speaking/Writing
Avoiding email misunderstandings
Level
B1/B2 (Intermediate to Upper intermediate) The
lesson should take about 60 minutes. The writing
may be done as homework to save time.

Lead-in (5 minutes)
Tell the class that, according to a recent survey,
around 1/3 of people are regularly offended by emails
(see this article from Management Today: Email is
an offensive business, http://www.managementtoday.
co.uk/channel/TechnologyInnovation/news/923463/
email-offensive-business/). Elicit some reasons,
but avoid going into all the discussion areas from
exercise 1. Students work in pairs to complete the
matching exercise. Point out that there are more
definitions than questions because some questions
have more than one bold term.
Answers
1h 2g 3l 4b 5a 6m 7n 8k 9c/f/j 10i/e 11d

Speaking (510 minutes)

Students discuss the questions in pairs. Afterwards,
elicit interesting examples/stories to discuss with the
whole class.

Analysis (15 minutes)

Students discuss the extracts in turn. This will work
better if you have the extracts on separate slips of
paper, which students take turns to choose at random
and try to explain to their partner. Afterwards, go
through the answers carefully with the class.
Answers
(intended meaning first, followed by potential
misunderstanding):
Extract 1: Im afraid the deadline has moved, so
youll have to work harder; I (stupidly) believe you
want to work even harder.
Extract 2: The request was well justified; The
rejection was well justified.
Extract 3: You will not be billed for the presentations
you miss as long as you inform us in advance;
complete confusion.
Extract 4: Joke intended to show empathy/sympathy
(I know how you must feel); aggressive insult.
Extract 5: I dont like the approach, and the budget is
too optimistic; I dont have any strong opinions.

Extract 6: Please can we discuss your client accounts;

Im very angry, and you will have to explain a
problem.
Extract 7: It might be a good idea to get this
information; Why havent you got this information?
Extract 8: Im very angry come to my office as
soon as possible; I think this is funny lets have a
chat about it if you have time.
Extract 9: It does matter: I need it on Friday
afternoon; it doesnt matter Monday will be fine.
Extract 10: I cant help you with this favour; Ill help
you with this favour.
Extract 11: Excellent work from an essential member
of the team; Your work is late and you criticise
people.
Extract 12: It would be better to have a
teleconference than a face-to-face meeting; I want to
meet first by teleconference and then face to face.

Review (10 minutes)

Students complete the matching exercise in pairs
and discuss improvements. Again, this will work
best if you cut up the slips of paper for students
to match, although you also should provide them
with a complete version of the worksheet as a
reference. Collect feedback from the class, including
similar advice or examples of offensive or easily
misunderstood words, phrases and structures.
Answers
1h 2c 3f 4a 5l 6g 7i 8j 9b 10k 11e 12d

Practice (1520 minutes)

Give each pair a blank sheet of paper. Each pair
chooses a different scenario from the 12 email
extracts (for example, they could take a slip of paper
at random from the pack). The pairs write a complete
email using the extract (e.g. with one sentence before
and one sentence after the sentence on the slip). Set
a strict time limit (e.g. 7 minutes) for the writing, to
encourage them to work quickly. At the end of the
time limit, they hand their sheet of paper to the next
pair, who write a reply, again with a strict time limit.
After two or three such exchanges, students read their
email conversations aloud to the class so you can
give and elicit feedback based on the techniques from
this lesson.

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