Search results for 'tag:Present tenses tag:Business letters' matching tags 'Present tenses' and 'Business letters'

Re: Present tense simple vs. continuous

Kooyeen — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 20:26:43 GMT

Philip wrote:
Sonja_muc wrote:

Hi everybody,

I am wondering why it is possible to write in a business letter, e.g.:

a) I enclose a brochure of our full range of products (read this many times in sample letters)"I am enclosing" is standard verbage.

but it sounds very odd to say something like

b) As the invoice amount is incorrect, we return the invoice to you.

I would actually write we are returning or we will return in this case. Correct!

I can justify the use of the continuous in sentence b) (we are doing it now) but I can't find any explanation for the use of the simple form in sentence a) although I've read this sentence quite often and it doesn't bother me

This is just my gut feeling though and I have no explanation whatsoever why sentence a) seems to be correct while sentence b) doesn't ...

Anybody got an idea?

TiA

Sonja

Hi, I feel "I am enclosing" and "we are returning" sound good, but I was wondering if the simple future sounds good as well.

Ex: I' ll enclose a brochure of our full range of products. As the invoice amount is incorrect, we'll return the invoice to you.

The meaning is practically "present" though, the same as "That's too heavy for you, I'll help you..." (I'm about to help you).

Thanks

Re: Present tense simple vs. continuous

Grammar Geek — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:11:47 GMT

Hi Sonja, and welcome to the forums. I answered with this in the other post you made on the same topic. For future reference, if you ever forget to sign on and make a post, you just have a wait a bit for it to appear. Please don't sign in and then post the same question, or you'll have different people answering the same question in different threads, like what happened here. (Meanwhile, I'm deleting the other, anonymous thread on the same question.)

Anyway, here's what I said before I knew anyone else had already answered:

Hi Sonja,

My gut feeling is the same as yours. I have written many, many business letters using U.S.-style, and I would write "I am enclosing" and "We are returning." The only exception would be when you are explaining an on-going process, but not the immediate action that is the purpose of the letter.

Re: Present tense simple vs. continuous

Philip — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:05:44 GMT

Sonja_muc wrote:

Hi everybody,

I am wondering why it is possible to write in a business letter, e.g.:

a) I enclose a brochure of our full range of products (read this many times in sample letters)"I am enclosing" is standard verbage.

but it sounds very odd to say something like

b) As the invoice amount is incorrect, we return the invoice to you.

I would actually write we are returning or we will return in this case. Correct!

I can justify the use of the continuous in sentence b) (we are doing it now) but I can't find any explanation for the use of the simple form in sentence a) although I've read this sentence quite often and it doesn't bother me

This is just my gut feeling though and I have no explanation whatsoever why sentence a) seems to be correct while sentence b) doesn't ...

Anybody got an idea?

TiA

Sonja

Present tense simple vs. continuous

Sonja_muc — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 10:06:00 GMT

Hi everybody,

I am wondering why it is possible to write in a business letter, e.g.:

a) I enclose a brochure of our full range of products (read this many times in sample letters)

but it sounds very odd to say something like

b) As the invoice amount is incorrect, we return the invoice to you.

I would actually write we are returning or we will return in this case.

I can justify the use of the continuous in sentence b) (we are doing it now) but I can't find any explanation for the use of the simple form in sentence a) although I've read this sentence quite often and it doesn't bother me

This is just my gut feeling though and I have no explanation whatsoever why sentence a) seems to be correct while sentence b) doesn't ...

Anybody got an idea?

TiA

Sonja

Re: at this time vs. at that time

Marius Hancu — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:49:14 GMT

Try a search at
http://www.google.com
with:
site:bbc.co.uk "at this time"
and separately with:
site:bbc.co.uk "at that time"
(quotation marks are important)
which will perform a search on that bastion of good English, the BBC

You will find that "at that time" is related mostly with past tense, while "at this time" is mostly related to present tense (you're free to perform some stats and confront me on that, but ...). Thus your boss is, in general, correct.

However, you will find examples where the time is "localized" to the general time of the sentence, and "at this time" will be used for describing events which took place a long time ago:
--------
BBC - North East Wales Denbighshire history - Memories of ...

In 1954, as a 16 year old, I took up motorcycling and often visited Sun Garage motorcycle showroom and workshop and petrol outlet located on Regent Street opposite the junction with Church Street. These were exciting times for it was an opportunity to view the new machines in the showroom and chance to talk to Alan, Les, and Horace who I believe were partners in the business. It is amazing now to think that at this time petrol was dispensed from attended pumps located at the busy roadside. On one occasion sitting astride my BSA bantam motorcycle, Horace, a heavy smoker, served me with fuel. I recall I was horrified and too frightened to move or say anything, for Horace dispensed the fuel with a lighted cigarette dangling from his lips. I never ever went back there for fuel again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/denbighshire/pages/int-eist1.shtml
--------

Thus time is relative, and an author can focus on the local time of the sentence and prefer/pretend to say "at this time," but see the preferences in the above.

This being a business letter, be conventional, as you want to minimize confusion.

N.B. Should you prefer AmE to BrE, make searches at the New York Times, with:

site:nytimes.com "at this time"

where the first hit gives something similar to your preference:
---------
But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil and the construction of nuclear power plants and refused to consider further bilateral talks. In their discussions with me at this time, North Korean spokesmen seemed convinced that the American positions posed a serious danger to their country and to its political regime.

Jimmy Carter, in the New York Times
http://tinyurl.com/gv2kq
----------