Learn English – Using “I am writing to…” with “request”

grammarphrase-usageverbsword-usage

I have encountered the phrase "I am writing to inform…" several times in an E-mail. However, I have never seen this phrase used with any verb other than "inform" before. Thus, I am not very confident in the validity of the following sentence:

"I am writing to request your permission to organize an interview…"

I would appreciate if anyone could tell me if the sentence above is within the norm of polite business language and if I could use the phrase with any verb other than inform. Thank you in advance for your help.

Best Answer

Yes, you can use lot of different words here, though as @Lambie points out, the for in your example is not needed/normal.

For example:

I am writing to ask ...

I am writing to say ...

I am writing to let you know ...

I am writing to query whether ...