Using P.S. in a formal email

Question

I had a quick question in regards to using P.S.

I just finished writing up a formal follow-up email for an interview. I touched over a lot of information and brought up some new topics.

Anyway, I have noticed some issues between my email and their email in getting/receiving replies. Sometimes their reply never reaches me and so I want to add a "P.S." or maybe a "Note" simply stating

For some reason my email has not been receiving all of secretary's name replies, i.e. I never received the interview date email until I called to check up on its status. If I do not reply to an email within 24 hours it is most likely due to the email never reaching me, so please feel free to call.

How should I P.S./Note this, and does this sound too informal? I am stumped about this.

And should I note this before or after my final thank you?

Answer 1

A postscript is a passage at the end of a letter, following the signature. It only makes sense in the context of a letter composed by hand or on a typewriter, to accommodate an afterthought when you have already finished your letter, and don't want to retype or rewrite the whole thing again.

It makes no sense in an email context - or even a paper letter composed on a word processor - because you can just insert the extra text above the signature, without having to retype the whole thing.

If you just want a way of introducing a side topic, you could just use a phrase like 'incidentally', 'on another note', 'by the way', etc.

Answer 2

I use P.S. in emails fairly often. As others points out, P.S. stands for postscript ("after signature") and it means the content was added after the message was signed.

However, just because technology gives you the choice of re-wording a message to avoid a postscipt, that doesn't mean you must re-word the message to avoid a postscript. You may chose to use a post-script (1) as a stylistic choice, to emphasize that the content was added as an afterthought, esp. for humorous effect; (2) if you genuinely don't have time to re-write the letter, or working the afterthought into the original flow would be too disruptive to the original message, perhaps because the afterthought is on a completely different topic. Having it as a postscripts helps draw attention to it.

It's true that emails (or word processing in general) make it easy to avoid postscripts. But just because postscripts are not required, doesn't mean that they are prohibited. They can be used as a literary device as explained in section 1381 of The Gregg Reference Manual (6th edition):

"A postscript can be effectively used to express an idea that has been deliberately withheld from the body of a letter; stating this idea at the very end gives it strong emphasis." (emphasis mine)

Many times emails are not signed. In that case I would feel strange using a P.S.without a signature. I may use an alternate way of introducing the text such as "By The Way" or BTW or "on a different topic...." Or I would intentionally add my name to the bottom of the mail just so I can use a P.S. in a literal rather than metaphorical way.

Answer 3

A P.S. at the end of an email can be a handy way of avoiding condescension, especially when you want to clarify a small detail without explicitly stating what that detail is.

Eventually, there will be a human reading your email, so you should consider elements of that if it can help you.