One reason why e-mail can lead to misunderstandings is that the written word lacks emotion. There is no way of knowing what emphasis or phrasing is intended. Words do not easily convey that the writer is angry, sarcastic or joking. One way to take the heat out is to show what you mean by actually writing it in. These additions help people to know what you mean.
Many people use smileys or emoticons.
There are many different smileys but here are some of the more common. There are tens of smileys, many of which are obscure, so if you want to be understood, use the common ones. The more unusual smileys can be saved for people who know you well. If you want to add emphasis to a word you can use bold or underline in some e-mail programs . The problem though is that not all e-mail programs can handle this emphasis and will strip out the bold and other characters leaving plain text.