Monday Mail Mastery. Should or if ?
“If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us” is a common ‘ending’ phrase in mails and one you can copy & paste lock, stock & barrel for your mails.
Maybe you have seen ‘should’ replacing ‘if’ in mails. The use of ‘should’ instead of ‘if’ is more common in (very) formal mails. Unless the recipient used a ‘formal’ style of language including using ‘should’ in their correspondence (so you mirror their style) or where you find it is appropriate to write in a more formal way, I wouldn’t recommend using ‘should’.
What’s more, I would argue that VERY formal mails are a thing of the past and so ‘if’ is the best bet.
QOTD How often do you see ‘should’ used in this context in mails?
“If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us” (Für Rückfragen stehen wir gerne zur Verfügung), lock, stock & barrel (ganz und gar), unless (es sei denn), recipient (Empfänger), to be appropriate (angemessen sein), what’s more (und außerdem), “I would argue that” (hier: ich würde behaupten), to be a thing of the past (der Vergangenheit angehören), be the best bet (Das beste ist)
Actually, I‘ve never seen „should“ in this context. Sounds strange (maybe because my ears aren‘t used to it) and I totally agree with you that times of very formal mails are over. This is a style one might use when writing the Queen of England but for Joe Bloggs a simple „if“ is sufficient.