Grammar for Writing Emails: Reply (2)

Summary: In the previous post you have learnt  that 'I will reply your email' is wrong.  In this post, we will further explain why and link the verb 'reply' to a sentence pattern that you have learnt.   




A. Reply & Sentence Pattern

If you remember, this is a sentence pattern you have learned at school.  

What pattern is it? The pattern of 'SVO'.

Subject	Verb	Object
Ms Talk.	made	a speech           (at a meeting)

Yet, your teacher might have forgotten to tell you one thing. In 'SVO' there is a special relationship between a subject and an object.  

By special, I don’t mean they have an affair. What I mean is in the pattern of 'SVO' a subject has some control over the object.

Put simply, in this pattern one thing is bigger.  Which one is bigger?  A subject is bigger than an object. In other words, If a subject is a master, then an object is like a servant.  


And do you want to give the relationship a name? What about MS?  MS has nothing to do with any company. It means a Master-servant relationship.






B. Correct Usage: Reply to your email

However, in the case of ‘I will reply your email soon’, the word ‘I’ is not the master of ‘your email’.  

What does that mean? ‘I’ is not the one who wrote the email. In other words, 'I' write something, but not the email 'I' received.  It is Mr Big, not 'I', who wrote the email.  

In other words, Mr Big is the master (subject) of the servant (the email).    

So, when using ‘reply’ as a verb, stick to the following rule:

Person	Verb	+ Preposition	Thing
I	will reply	to	your email (soon)

That is, when there is no MS relationship, a preposition is needed. This is why when you use ‘wait’, you have to add a preposition: Wait FOR me, but not ‘Wait me’.  




C. Quick Tip

So, the Feel Good Tip is 'Re + Re'. What does that mean?

reply + to  ------------>   (reply + preposition)

       



 
D: More Examples from Everyday life

The same tip also applies to:

'I will write to you.' 

or 

'I will talk to you'.

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Pic sources

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12394349@N06/4656677533/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Emails and Prepositions (1): About

Do you have to write lots of emails every day?  Do you think there is some way you can make email writing easier for you?

Yes, there is.  One of the ways is to pay attention to ‘about’.  ‘About’ is very helpful. It can help you to do (at least) two things in your emails.  Which two?

a. About (1): Saying Sorry

You have done something wrong, and your customer is angry.  What are you going to do?  

Quit your job?  Kill the customer?  But what about saying sorry by an email?    

The easy one is :  I am sorry about the mistake.

You learned it at kindergarten?  Alright.  What about this?

I am sorry about the mistake  + in + the order (you made yesterday).

So, if you want to be more specific, you need help.  And the word ‘in’ comes to your rescue.  

a1. Sorry about VS Sorry for

Well, you may have a question.  What is it?  What about ‘sorry + for’?  In other words, what is the difference between ‘sorry about’ and ‘sorry for’?

When you use sorry with for, you talk about doing something. What do I mean by doing something?  Read the 2 sentences:

I am sorry about                         the mistake.

I am sorry for         making     the mistake.

b. About (2): Asking for It

Well, back to ‘about’.  You may think saying sorry is a bit negative.  Actually you can use ‘about’ positively: asking for something (making requests).  For example:

I have a few questions about your products.   

Sounds too casual?  Alright.  What about this:

I would like to ask about your products.

b1. What about you don’t want to use about?

Well, there are lots of choices.  You can have:

a. One-Word Prepositions:

regarding

concerning

respecting

Lucky you!  They all end in ‘ing’.  So the sample sentence becomes:

I have a few questions regarding your products.   

b. Three-Word Prepositions:

Yes, some prepositions come in three words.  So the sample sentence becomes:

I have a few questions with regard to your products.   

Other members in this team of three-word prepositions include:

with reference to

with respect to

C. Key Points

When writing emails, think about ‘about’.  About helps you to

a. to say sorry (sorry about that)

b. to ask for something (ask about your product)

grammar for emails

Directory (1) Grammar for Emails

Grammar for Writing Emails (1): Reply

Summary: This post is about how to write emails with regard to the verb 'reply', a verb that has been used incorrectly by lots of people. 

You will learn that 'I will reply your email' is absolutely wrong, and that the concept behind is funny and easy to grasp. 



In a way, you will learn what Graham Lock (a guru of English grammar) means by transitivity, an important concept in English grammar, if you want to write emails with better English.  

So enjoy your reading!

Grammar for Writing Emails (2): as followS

Summary: This post is about how to write emails. It explains the tricky issue of why there is an 's' in 'as follows'. You will learn that there are two explanations for this complex structure. Before you get the answer, the post explains the two meanings of 'as': 'like' and 'because' respectively. You will then notice that the 'as' in 'as follows' means 'like'. 

So enjoy your reading!

Grammar for Writing Emails (3): to inform you or be informed

Summary: This post is about how to write emails in a polite way. You will learn the idea (concept) of transitive verbs, yet the term is not used in this post. Instead, an interesting and user-friendly term, Friendly Verb, is invented to make your learning fun and enjoyable. 

So enjoy your reading!

Grammar for Writing Emails (4): Looking forward to hearING from you

Summary: This post is about how to end your emails. You will understand better one of the most troublesome words in English: to, especially when you use it to end your emails. You may be confused by 'looking forward to hear' or 'looking forward to hearing from you'. 

Yet, in a funny and interesting way, this post entertains and teaches you that actually the 'hearing' in 'to hearing from you' is something like a noun. In terms of grammar, the 'ing' gives you a signal that it is a gerund (a noun).  

So enjoy your reading!

  

寫電子郵件（1）語法：回复 (Reply)

摘要：這篇文章是關於如何運用reply “答复”這動詞來寫電子郵件。這個動詞，很多人已使用不當。您將學習''I will reply your email'是絕對錯誤的，那背後的概念很有趣，易於掌握。在某種程度上，你會學到Graham Lock格雷厄姆鎖（英語語法大師)所指transitivity，英語語法的一個重要概念。


 你是忙著寫一封電子郵件，這樣你的老闆將很快得到答复。但你知不知道，“I will reply your email soon 我會回复你的電子郵件很快” 不是英語。簡而言之，它是錯誤的。


真的嗎？為什麼呢？在英語中，'to reply an email' 是怪異的。也就是說，動詞“答复”是不是應遵循的“一件事”，直接下面的公式所示：

   

reply + a thing (一件事)       ➡➡➡➡錯誤+錯誤+錯誤。





想了解更多嗎？閱讀下面的句子，你就會知道為什麼。

Persons 人	Verbs 動詞	Things 事情
1. Managers 經理	plan 計劃	activities. 活動
2. Sam山姆	leads帶領	the marketing department.營銷部門

在上面兩句，人（經理或山姆）影響一些東西 （活動或營銷部門）。在英語中它是 to make an effect on something.



'Make an effect on something' 是什麼意思嗎？關於上述兩個句子，它有兩層含義：經理和薩姆有一些控制權, 控制 activities 和 the marketing department。也就是說，當你有控制權，你控制的東西跟隨動詞，換句話說, 東西緊跟你的行動。



想要一個額外的例子嗎？ “Ms Talk made a speech at a meeting 通話女士在一次會議上講話”。通話女士在演說中有一定的控制。為什麼呢？這是一個演說，她可以任何她喜歡的方式發言。





如果你還記得，這是你在學校學到的句型。什麼樣的模式？'SVO'。

Subject主語	Verb動詞	Object 賓語
Ms Talk.	made	a speech           (at a meeting)

在一次會議上, Ms Talk 發表講話.



然而，你的老師可能忘記告訴你一件事。在“SVO”有主語和賓語之間的特殊關係。所謂特殊，我不是說他們有外遇。我的意思是在SVO'的主語對賓語有一定的'控制權'。



簡單地說，在這種格局下，有一件事是更大的。哪一個更大？主語是大於賓語。換句話說，如果一個主語是主人(master)，那麼賓語是像一個僕人 (servant)。你想給這關係一個名字嗎？MS？ MS不是任何公司.  而是主僕關係  (a Master-servant relationship)。




然而，在“I will reply your email soon”的情況下，“我會盡快回复您的電子郵件'，'I 我'不是主人。這是什麼意思？ 是誰寫的電子郵件?  這是Mr Big，而不是'我'，寫的電子郵件。因此，Mr Big（Subject /主語）是電子郵件主人,  而不是'I 我'.

所以，當使用“reply”作為一個動詞，堅持以下規則：

Person	Verb	+ Preposition 介詞	Thing
I	will reply	to	your email (soon)

換句話說，當不存在MS的關係，是需要一個介詞。這就是為什麼當你使用“Wait 等待”，你必須添加一個介詞：Wait for me 等我，但不是'Wait me'。





同樣的提示也適用於“I will write to you 我會寫信給你。”或“I will talk to you 我會和你談”。




(The same post in English.)

Writing Emails: as followS

Dear Ms Funny

The information you needed is as follows:

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Do you add 's' at the end of the 'follow'? Or do not add 's' at the end of the 'follow'? Before you know which one is correct, there is a question for you.  

What is it? What is ‘as’ in 'as follows'? Or, what does ‘as’ mean here?  

(There are) two options for you to choose.

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Option / Meaning (1)

Read the sentence: He is as cool as Johnny Depp. So what does ‘as’ mean? It means he is like Johnny Depp.

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Option / Meaning (2)

But what about the ‘as’ in the following situation, your presentation:

As you all know, our company is becoming bigger and bigger.  (I guess you will say so even if your company is getting smaller and smaller.)  

What does ‘as’ mean here?  Not sure about it? Put differently, why do you say ‘As you all know ’?

Is it a comment?  A comment about which you think everyone knows that your company is getting bigger and bigger, that the information is shared by everyone in the room, right?

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So now back to the email, ‘as follows’.  Which meaning, one or two, is similar to ‘as follows’?  I guess you’ve got it.  The ‘as’ in ‘as follows’ is very much like ‘as cool as’, right?  In other words, the ‘as’ in ‘as follows’ means:

                             like

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Well, now you know what ‘as’ means, but why there is ‘s’ in ‘follows’?  There are two explanations.

Explanation 1: There is a ‘what’?  What does that mean? Read the following email:

You may insert ‘what’ before ‘follows’.

Explanation 2: Yet, there is more than one explanation.  Read the following email.

You may insert ‘it’ before ‘follows’.  Well problem solved, right?  There is still a Feel Good tip for you, but this time you have to work it out yourselves.  Before you feel surprised, if not disappointed, break the code:

As  +   follows

Pic sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/balladist/2376057218/sizes/z/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/revstan/4412635671/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobnrenee/4338327776/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/2206470413/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28096801@N05/4729446076/