Tip 2. Use Attachments Only When Necessary

Email messages can be in two different forms:

• inline text
• attachment

Inline text is the normal text that you write in an email. An attachment is a file from your computer (for example a Word document or.gif image) that you "attach" or add to your email. When someone receives an email with inline (normal) text, they can read it immediately. When they receive an attachment, they have to "open" the attachment with the right program (for example Word or PhotoShop). There are several problems with attachments, including:

1. Recipients may not have the right program to open the attachment
2. Attachments can contain viruses (so some people don't like to open attachments)
3. Really big attachments can take a long time to download, especially on mobile phones

Many people do not like to receive attachments. Usually, it is better to send inline text. Only send an attachment when it is not possible to send the information as inline text and you are sure the receiver agrees.

Tip 3. Don't YELL!

Do not write everything in CAPITAL LETTERS. In English, it is not polite to use a lot of capital letters. In fact, text written in capital letters is difficult to read. You never see a book written only in capital letters. Using all capital letters is called "yelling", which is the same as shouting. Why is it difficult to read capital letters? Look at this word:

1. ENGLISH (capital letters)
2. English (initial capital + small letters)

In No.1 the word has no "shape"...it is a simple rectangle. In No.2 the word has a shape...it goes up and down. When we read, especially when we read fast, we read the shape of words. We do not read each individual letter. The shape of "ENGLISH" is exactly the same as the shape of "SPANISH". But the shape of "English" is not the same as the shape of "Spanish". For subjects, it's sometimes ok to use capitals. But if you must make some words in the text more important, don't do it with capitals. Use asterisks, like *this*, or use bold.

Tip 4. Be Careful With Abbreviations

Examples of abbreviations are "btw" (by the way) and "damhik" (don't ask me how I know). Abbreviations are a good way to save work on typing if both correspondents understand the abbreviations. But if the recipient does not understand your abbreviation, you are not communicating successfully.

Tip 5. Sign Your Email

It's a good idea, and more polite, to put your name at the end of your emails. You can even add other information like address, telephone and fax, especially for business. You can create a "signature block" that you add to the end of all messages. Many email services let you create an "auto-signature" that appears at the end of every email you send.

English Checker

• character: a letter or symbol, like a, B, 1, 2, &, * etc
• recipient: the person who receives your email
• shape: the external form of something
• typeface: a particular design of type
• virus: a bug or coding designed to damage a computer

E-ENGLISH IYKWIM;-)

Josef Essberger

KWIM? I thought not.

For e-English read "electronic English" and for IYKWIM read "if you know what I mean".

And for KWIM? Yes, that's right. You'll have to FIOFY.

The internet has created a whole new way of speaking when we write email, post messages or chat online.

It saves time and typing effort, but it's no joke if you don't know the "secret". So just to help you if you're not already a netspeak expert, here are a few of the basic rules and codes people use on the internet.

Remember, these are for use on the internet with friends. We do not usually use them in formal letters or faxes.

Emphasis

If we want to emphasise a word (make it more important), we often use asterisks (*), like this:

"I *love* EnglishCLUB.net."

Sometimes people use capitals to add emphasis but it is not a good idea. MOST PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE A LOT OF CAPITALS. THEY LOOK RUDE AND CAN BE DIFFICULT TO READ.

Emotion

If we want to express our feelings and emotions, we can use "smileys". A smiley is a combination of symbols that looks like a face sideways. The original, basic smiley (eyes, nose and smiling mouth) is very popular and shows that we are happy:

:-)

We can also do this with eyes and mouth only:

:)

Of course, if we are unhappy, we can change the mouth::-(

There are many possibilities. Here are a few more:

• ;-) wink
• :*) kiss
• :~) tears

Abbreviations

To save time when typing (and maybe to save money if you are online), people often abbreviate commonly-used phrases. There are hundreds of possibilities and you certainly do not need all of them!

Some of these codes are just the first letter of each word, for example:

imo = in my opinion

Some of these codes use the sound of the letter to represent the sound of a word. For example, the letter "c" sounds like the word "sea" or "see":

cu = see you

Some of these codes use numbers because the sound of the number is the same as the sound of another word (not the spelling!). For example, 4 (four) sounds like "for". And 8 (eight) sounds like "ate". So if we write L8 we get "late". If we write W8 we get "wait"!

Here are some more examples:

• aamof = as a matter of fact
• asap = as soon as possible
• b4 = before
• b4n = bye for now
• cul8er = see you later
• damhik = don't ask me how I know
• eta = estimated time of arrival
• f2f = face to face
• gf = girlfriend
• gmt = Greenwich Mean Time
• hth = hope this helps
• icbw = I could be wrong
• jam = just a minute
• k = okay
• lmk = let me know
• mcibty = my computer is better than yours
• oic = oh I see
• pls = please
• plz = please
• q = queue
• rumf = are you male or female?
• sil = sister-in-law
• tia = thanks in advance
• uok = you ok?
• vr = virtual reality
• wdymbt = what do you mean by that?
• y2k = year 2000

Journey to the future

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Over the past 40 years computers have transformed social and business life, despite remaining pretty unintelligent. Now the challenge is to get them thinking for themselves, writes Cliff Saran