Monday 13 September 2010

Business Writing: "Please find attached sth..." or "Attached is sth"?

A couple of days ago, I received a very good question from a student asking me about business email writing. After getting permission from them, I am now going to share this with you.

First of all, we need to understand that "Time is money" in the business world and so, we do not need to use big words or long sentences to say what we want, which is why if we can use fewer words in business email, we'll do just that. No one wants to read long and tedious emails, they will just throw them away.

Image from bizzyness.com

Therefore,
"Please find attached my report for your reference" (8 words) 
(find + 2 objects)
can be simplified to
"Attached is my report for your reference." (7 words).

But if your concern is which one is more polite and more suitable for writing to big clients, important partners or bosses, then of course, choose the first one, because it has the word "please".

Now, how about 
"Attached please find my report for your reference." 

Well, you can ask yourself this question, who should find my report in this case?

HW: Do you know who?


Vocabulary:
tedious -- (adj) boring


Resources:

5 comments:

  1. I didn't get what you mean. "Attached please find my report" is an inverted sentence. It means "Please find my attached report". It should not affect the meaning of the sentence. It only emphasize the report. To find the report is still a reader.

    Fanny

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  2. yes, Locky. would you analyse the structure to us as well. Thanks so much!

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  3. It should be the one who performed and found the report. I just guess with Locky's Hint.

    Best regards,
    Mei

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okay, answer time.

    If I say "Attached please find my report for your reference", I am telling a guy called "Attached" to look for my report. And as you all know, "Attached" isn't a person's name, so I can't use this sentence at all.

    ReplyDelete