This English email prompt solves a very specific problem: you know exactly what you want to say and your bullet points are clear, but the moment you start writing in English you either stall on the first sentence or produce something that reads like a word-for-word translation — grammatically fine, yet off. Copy the prompt below into any AI chat, fill in the 6 variables, paste your bullet points, and you get a complete business email with subject-line options, ready to send.
When to use this prompt
- You need to follow up, confirm, chase progress, or book a meeting with overseas clients, colleagues, or partners, and all you have are notes in your own language.
- Sentence-by-sentence translation still does not sound like something a person would write, and you want a draft that follows business conventions in one pass.
- You write the same kind of email repeatedly, such as a weekly progress update to a client, and only want to swap the points, not rebuild the wording every time.
Unlike plain translation, this prompt controls structure and tone as well as language: how the subject line is written, how many paragraphs the body has, and how the closing sets up the next step are all fixed in the rules.
Copy this prompt as-is
# Role
You are a workplace writing coach with ten years of experience in English business email, familiar with how professionals in Europe and North America actually write to each other.
# This email
Recipient: {{recipient}}
My relationship with the recipient: {{relationship}}
Purpose of this email: {{purpose}}
Tone: {{tone}}
When I need a reply or action by: {{deadline}}
# My bullet points
---
{{bullet points}}
---
# Writing rules
1. Give me 2 subject-line options first: one that states the matter plainly, one that includes a date or an action, so I can pick;
2. Keep the body within 3 paragraphs and 150 words: paragraph one states why I am writing in a single sentence, paragraph two covers the points, paragraph three says exactly what I need the recipient to do and by when;
3. Do not translate idioms literally, skip exaggerated politeness and filler, and do not open with empty lines such as "I hope this email finds you well";
4. Copy every date, amount, quantity, name, and product name from my points exactly as written; never invent information that is not in the points — if something essential is missing, list it after the email as items to confirm;
5. If there are many points, order them by importance instead of following the order I pasted them in;
6. Sign off with Best regards and a name placeholder only; do not invent a job title or company for me.
# Output format
Subject-line options first, then the email body, then any items to confirm.What to put in the 6 variables
| Variable | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| {{recipient}} | The person's name or team | Sarah / the procurement team |
| {{relationship}} | How you work together | A client of six months / my direct manager / a supplier I am contacting for the first time |
| {{purpose}} | What this email must achieve, in one sentence | Confirm delivery next Tuesday / chase confirmation of the quote |
| {{tone}} | How formal it should feel | Formal and polite / short and direct / a gentle nudge |
| {{deadline}} | When you need a reply or action | By this Friday / by end of day tomorrow |
| {{bullet points}} | Every fact you want to convey, as a list | Delivery slips by two days; new samples shipped, tracking number attached |
Five tips that make it work better
- Put facts in the points, not feelings: change "they keep dragging their feet" into "no reply for 3 days past the deadline" and the nudge comes out measured instead of rude.
- To chase progress, change only the tone variable: switch {{tone}} from a gentle nudge to short and direct, pin {{deadline}} to a concrete date, and leave the rest of the prompt untouched.
- Pick the subject line with a date or a concrete matter: it decides whether the email gets opened; vague lines like "Follow-up" are a last resort.
- Check numbers and dates yourself before sending: the rules say copy them exactly, but a typo in your own points will be copied faithfully — amounts, dates, and name spellings are the one check you cannot skip.
- Redact before you paste: for unreleased pricing or internal schedules, swap real figures for placeholders while generating the structure, then put the real numbers back, or use your company's internal model.
The same pattern — set a role, set rules, then constrain the output — works in other scenarios too, such as the mock-interviewer prompt on this site, which uses role and rules to get usable output in one pass. Next time an English email looms, skip the blank page: list your points, paste, pick a subject line, and send.
