ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:41:16 GMT

I agree with most here....as an American the phrase is at best humorous. It could be interpreted as some sort of philanthropic message or even sexual. But ultimately it is an unnecessary closing to an email. Chances are you're emailing because something needs to be done or addressed. I don't need to be told twice to do something....I got it the first when I read your email!

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Marius Hancu — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:05:39 GMT

Needful was used by American writers

needful

requisite, indispensable

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dict.

but that was a long time ago.

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Grammar Geek — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:30:45 GMT

Anonymous

This is a completely formal letter for a common inter-office/business email.

I can't agree with you that it's a completely formal letter. I would agree that it's common and appropriate in most workplace settings, but it's a far cry from formal.

This thread is very old, but one replacement phrase would be "I appreciate your help with this issue."

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:23:59 GMT

The truth is "Kindly do the needful" has absolutely no direct translation. In an email, formal or informal, Americians do not have an "exit line" that says anything remotely close to that. I'm sure it's a culture thing, but americians see this as you saying "Do your job." It seems more like a command and less like a friendly jesture.

Agreed, Americians see "Kindly do the needful" and get a good chuckle, make a couple preverted jokes, and move on. Thats because we simply don't use "needful" much less "the needful". For Americian english... and I would suspect brittish as well, try this...

Hi Joe,

Customer number 55477 is looking to see where his order is. Can you check if this customer exists? I've looked everywhere but cannot find any record of this customer.

Thanks

- Bob

This is a completely formal letter for a common inter-office/business email. So my suggestion, simply drop the line entirely. It serves no purpose in modern english.

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:40:17 GMT

Please oblige

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:23:05 GMT

This is a typical phrase in lace>South Asialace>. However, this is viewed as an insult or a derogatory phrase for those who are not familiar. At best, "Do the needful" is an order and is not viewed 'kindly'...>>

There are many other options:> >
a) Please take care of this.>>
b) I'd appreciate if you could look into this issue.> >
c) I'd be grateful if you could handle this problem.> >
d) Could you look into this? Thank you.>>

You can use whatever fits best under the circumstances.

>Best, >
ET>>

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 19:30:52 GMT

The phrase "do the needful" will definatly be understood by your American clients, though it is, at least in technology companies, instantly recognizable as being of south asian origin. An analagous phrase in english is "do what is necessary" or "do what needs to be done". These are both perfectly good substitutes, though a bit formal sounding. You could also ask someone to "Take care of this" if you are pointing out something that needs to be done. You can also ask someone to "have a look at <whatever>" if you're pointing out something that needs investigation. There are several other phrases that can be used, depending on the context.

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 02:07:33 GMT

Well you have two options that would work best:

"Please take care of this"

"Go *** yourself"

Both work great for getting the point across and getting something done in a timely manner.

Hope I helped!

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:33:30 GMT

Americans find "Kindly do the needful." to be insulting. We read it as "Hey Dumb *** you should have already done this, so do it now".

To us it assigns blame, or makes it seem as if we have overlooked/avoided something. Just ask for what you would like done and say thank you after the request.

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Guest — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 18:42:44 GMT

"Kindly do the needful"

I agree with the other responders.

Asking me to "kindly do the needful" could
1) get you reported to Human Resources
2) get me fired or arrested if i really did that in public/at my desk.

I have only recently been introduced to this phrase although I was born in the US and have survived here for 38 years.
"kindly do the needful" sounds like something outta playboy or even worse.. hustler mag or something of that sort.

Just ask us to please do/complete/respond to 'fill in exact request'..... maybe we're just a bit more forward/blunt here.

NJ

Re: Required Modern Sentence

CalifJim — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 02:44:27 GMT

Servlette,

You must be from India. All the Indian people I know write that phrase in e-mails. No offense, but we Americans do have a good chuckle over it. In most of the contexts where I have seen it used it has meant "Please handle this case" or "Please handle this situation/problem" or "Please help me/us solve this problem" or "Please do whatever is necessary to resolve this problem" or anything vaguely equivalent. It seems to be a polite way of telling someone to get off their lazy derriere and do something useful!

CJ

Re: Required Modern Sentence

Mister Micawber — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 14:43:18 GMT

As a speaker of AmE, it sounds to me as if you are asking me to use the toilet, Servlette! If I were requesting a favour, I would write 'I would be grateful if you would ....'

Required Modern Sentence

servlette — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 11:32:48 GMT

Hi,
I am from South Asia.
The form of English used here is mainly British, though as elsewhere American is beginning to make itself felt because of the explosion of the internet.
We retain some words that have fallen out of fashion in Britain.
Suppose I want a favour or something to be done, I would write to a friend like "Kindly do the needful".
I am told this sentence is out of fashion or never used in Britain. I feel that I speak English of 1940's.

Could anyone tell me what is the equivalent sentence spoken in Britian/America nowadays for "Kindly do the needful".

So far, I've been using this sentence in my official mails whenever I send e-mail to my American clients. I want to be sure whether my American clients really understood what I tried to say.

Thanks in advance.

With regards,
Servlette.