People often get confused when they see abbreviations such as p.s. or n.b. in emails and letters. Well, they may look very complicated and hard to understand, but they are simply short forms that have a concrete purpose.
The abbreviation n.b. basically stands for the Latin phrase note bene. Note bene in English means note well. So, whenever one needs to make sure that the reader reads the important part, the abbreviation n.b. comes into play. This is mostly seen in formal letters or emails and not in informal.
Meaning and use of n.b. in email
As we have learned that n.b. means note well, it is basically used when the writer wants to lay emphasis on some point and draw the reader’s attention to that particular point. So, note well in an expanded manner refers to note the following or pay attention to this.
It is usually seen in the top area somewhere or sometimes inside the main text. However, it is also seen at the end of an email sometimes similarly like the use of p.s. While p.s. says added information, n.b. says important information.
Thus, we can say that the n.b. or note well phrase in an email is a phrase used in order to provide strong emphasis and bring the reader’s attention to a particular point.
However, as mentioned earlier, n.b. is mostly seen only in formal letters or textbooks, and informal storytelling works do not use such abbreviations. It is popular only in formal texts.