Absolutely.

My students ask me this all the time and they expect me to say no. As a boss and as an English teachers I'm supposed to protect my job from robots right? 

But honestly, AI writes emails faster and better than I can. I have an excellent email writing course and I can definitely teach you how to write perfect emails. However that would take up a lot of my time and a lot of your time.

Ask me how to open an email and I'll give you 10 good examples. AI can come up with 20 examples before I can even finish saying my 5 examples.

So use AI when writing your emails, here's how:.

My 5 E-mail Openings

  1. I hope you had a good weekend.
  2. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
  3. I had a quick question about Monday's meeting.
  4. Following up on our call this morning.
  5. I wanted to share a quick update on the project.

We don't need "Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to inform you that..." That's textbook English. Nobody writes like that anymore.

Now ask AI for 20 examples

Use this prompt:

Give me 20 ways to open a work email to a client I've met twice. Friendly but professional. American English. 

You'll have 20 in five seconds. Some will be great. Some will sound like AI.

Your new task in the world of AI is to choose.

Choosing is the hard part

Gemini doesn't know your client doesn't do small talk. Chat-GPT doesn't know your boss is on CC so you shouldn't be too casual. Claude doesn't know "Per my last email" sounds polite but really means "Did you even read my last email?" (If you don't know why email me and ask me.)

Choosing the correct opening is not about grammar rules but a feel for tone. You only get that feel by using English with real people.

Three prompts I give my students

  1. Fix it and explain it. "Here's my email. Make it sound natural, keep my meaning, and explain each change." That's a free English lesson every time you hit send.
  2. Change the tone. "Make this more polite. The client is upset because the report is late."
  3. Say no nicely. "Help me say no to this request without hurting the relationship."

The email is not the job

I love AI but there are something AI can not do. It can't have the conversation with the client after sending the email or take part in the meeting after the email. AI can not tell you what do when you run into your colleague in the hallways and he asks "Got a minute to talk about the email you just sent out?"

A perfect email sets a high bar. Then the client calls and you have to sound like the person who wrote it.

Let AI write. You speak.

That second part is what VINEdots is for: live classes with a real teacher every week. See the live classes.