Email Haste

I would like to preface this by saying that I am not perfect when it comes to writing perfect emails.  Sometimes I write them so quickly, and I hit send before thinking about what I have written.  So I understand that these mistakes happen all the time.  I think my 11th rule would be to double-check what you've written before sending it out, especially if the email is going out to a large number of people.

There are certainly things that are easy to overlook in an attempt to send out a quick email.  Here are a few things I came across in my inbox this week.


Remind me what time they are at!

I've become quite a germAfob.

Volunteers Needed! September 20th 8:30-12:30 pm


Here is how I would reframe or rewrite these sentences.

Can you remind me, at what time does the event begin? 

I reframed this so the sentence did not end with a preposition.  The use of the exclamation point was unnecessary, although, I use exclamation points all too often in email.

I've become quite afraid of germs.

I don't know if germaphobe or germaphobic are acceptable words, so I reframed the sentence to remove the word in question.  I do know however, that germAfob is definitely not the correct spelling.

Volunteers are needed Sept. 20, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Again I removed the unnecessary exclamation point, and abbreviated the month September (AP style) and made the times (a.m. and p.m.) had periods.

Here is to using spellcheck, and to framing sentences so that are in proper format!  Oops, I probably shouldn't have used that exclamation point.  I should take my own advice.  :)