This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 586.
Let me know if any questions.
How incorrect grammar saves time.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
What's shaking?
What's going on?
Not too much.
How are you, Lindsay?
I'm feeling pretty good, but I do have a question to start off our episode today.
All right.
Let's hear it.
So do you feel like you always use full and complete sentences when you email work colleagues or, I don't know, maybe even outside contacts, right?
No.
Oh, often I do not.
I'm excited to dive into this today.
I had been observing in my emails to others, and the emails other people are sending me, how often we drop words from sentences, right?
We're pretty quick when we're trying to email.
We're saving time.
So today we're going to share a bunch of these phrases, what we drop from them, so that you can be doing this as well, to save time for the people you're emailing.
Yeah.
And what we're going to talk about would probably also be valid on Slack.
We don't use Slack as a company, but I know a lot of companies do.
And so maybe we can interview someone about Slack, about the language of Slack.
That's a great idea.
And also, I agree all of these you would use on Slack as well, because Slack is really just sort of quick emails back and forth without actually having to like open your email.
Yeah, exactly.
But these came straight from your email inbox.
So I love it, Aubrey.
So tell us about some of these phrases that we're shortening.
Yeah.
Let's see how many we're doing today.
10.
10 separate phrases that you can use in emails.
And for each of them, we're going to give you what the full sentence would be, right?
And we'll kind of point out which words are being dropped.
Often it's the subject, or the subject and the verb, or we're shortening something about it.
Because as long as you're clear, as long as the person you're emailing knows what you mean, you don't always need full, complete sentences.
Exactly.
And it's funny because our document here is trying to auto-correct these sentences.
But we're resisting the correction.
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What we're giving you here is real business English for building relationships.
The worst thing you can do is to learn perfect robotic English and just be in a corner by yourself at work and have no relationships, right.
Because it feels like you're separate from people.
We're trying to bring you together, bring you closer to people at work with this language.
Exactly.
I love that you pointed out that in the document where our little notes here, there's all of these underlying fixes.
I've noticed that in my email there's, like you know, the AI that's trying to recommend or change your grammar.
And every now and then I'll click on it to see what they would recommend.
And they're doing the opposite.
They're making, you know, the sentences much longer. more complicated and more formal.
That's not how we want the language of emails to be.
Exactly.
Cause then you're messing with the relationship a little bit too.
So let's get into it to read those really long wordy sentences.
That's not what I want in my emails.
Yeah.
And it makes you feel further away from the person.
Exactly.
So what would be the first thing that you've seen yourself, or seen me or Michelle or someone, shorten in emails?
So the first one is, let me know if any questions.
So what would the full sentence be, Lindsay?
Okay.
Yeah, what wants to be auto corrected here is let me know if you have any questions.
Exactly.
So it's not that much shorter, right?
What we're dropping here is the subject and the verb you have.
We don't need it.
Let me know if any questions, especially because we know when we're emailing who's getting the question the subject and verb are understood, so they can be dropped.
Yeah.
But keep in mind, we're not doing everything we could do in terms of shortening acronyms.
I know teenagers, I think, write LMK, right?
When they text with their friends, don't they do that?
Good point.
Yes.
We're not going to go that far.
We still have most of the sentence.
We want to make sure we're clear still, but we can drop some unnecessary words.
And we would also use this with, you know, it doesn't have to be questions, issues.
Let me know if any issues, let me know if any clarification is neat, right?
There are lots of ways we could end that sentence.
Or something like, let me know if anything comes up.
But actually, that's not even shortening.
That's actually the full sentence.
But you could make that longer, right?
Let me know if you have any issues as things come up.
We don't need to say all of that.
Yeah, exactly.
And the next one is please let me know if any changes.
And that's interesting because we're putting please.
So we're still maintaining some level of formality or respect, which is great.
Yes, sometimes you will want to include that please, especially if you're asking for a favor.
Both could work here, right?
You could just say, let me know if any changes.
And what that is, it's you know, it's this doesn't mean let me know if anything changes.
This means please let me know if any changes are required.
If you need me to make any changes, we'll shorten that to this.
Please let me know if any changes.
Yes, or please let me know if there are any required changes.
It would be another thing.
There's a few things we might be shortening from, but the point is we are shortening it.
Happy to discuss if needed.
What are we shortening this from?
Yeah.
So this means I would be happy to discuss this further if it is needed.
We've dropped quite a few words here that we don't need.
You can just say happy to discuss if needed.
And often these sentences are coming at the end of an email.
We've exchanged a few details.
We've shared some information and then we're closing it with a sentence.
We don't need that full complete sentence.
Happy to discuss if needed.
Yeah, because the person already has a lot of context.
You're probably more likely to end an email than start an email with these shortening phrases.
Right, because you already know we're clear about who's talking to who and what we mean.
So we have all that context and we can end with a very short sentence.
Yep.
And the next one, flagging in case you missed this.
I feel like the context here is if you haven't heard back from someone in maybe a week, maybe two weeks, sometimes you might resend the email.
Be careful there.
But you might put it at the top of their inbox.
Is that what happened here?
That could be, definitely.
Or if maybe they've missed a change or a date or something, they haven't confirmed something, then you could say this
It really means I am flagging this in case you missed it, or I am pointing this out to you in case you missed it.
We would shorten that too.
Flagging in case you missed this, and then you're going to share those details that you need to make sure that they caught.
Yeah, there's just so many words involved if you want to say the full sentence.
I'm flagging this in case you missed it.
Too many words.
You don't need all that.
Too wordy.
And then the next one that you found in your emails is a couple of questions about X.
Or a couple of things about X.
So instead of saying like I have a couple of questions about right.
Exactly.
We're dropping that subject and verb.
It's understood, right?
The email's coming from you.
You know that I'm talking about myself.
We can just say maybe...
A couple of questions about the training or a couple of things about this morning's meeting.
And we don't need that subject and verb I have at the beginning.
What about the next one?
Next one, please confirm receipt.
So really this means please confirm that you have received this or something, whatever it could be.
We shorten it to this and we're just very quickly saying we need you to let us know.
I need you to let me know if you got it.
Interesting.
And the number seven would be if no objections, I'll proceed.
So we're saying if there are no objections or if you have no objections, I'll proceed.
Exactly.
So we're dropping the subject or the pronoun.
We don't need all of that.
We just say, if no objections, I'll proceed.
So these are definitely sentence fragments, but they're very much allowed in emails to save us time.
They're so clean and simple and clear, and we all know what you're talking about, right?
Exactly.
Mm-hmm.
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Okay, Aubrey, there's another, there's two, three more here still.
Oh my gosh.
See updated draft attached.
Yeah.
So this means, you know, maybe the really long version would be like I would like you to see or notice the updated draft that I have attached.
We're dropping all of those extra words, right?
See updated draft attached.
That's all we need.
Exactly.
Number nine, circling back on this thread.
I am circling back on this email thread.
So we've dropped email, but we know we're emailing.
We don't need to state that.
So often that's what we're dropping the I am or whatever it is that subject and verb because it's implied.
It's almost redundant at this point.
Like clearly you're the one emailing.
You don't need that subject and verb.
And it also in some ways gives, it makes it more formal, because it gives too much importance to you, because the point is the email thread, you know.
Good point.
Yeah.
If I say I am circling back on this, it sounds overly formal.
It sounds focused on me and it's just unnecessary.
Yes, exactly.
And number 10, following up to check status.
Yeah, say you're dropping the I am.
We don't need to say I am following up to check the status.
You know I'm emailing you, so I don't need to say that it's coming from me.
Yeah, I like this.
Any other piece we need to know, Aubrey, before we go into role play?
Yeah, so this is interesting.
Some of these phrases are specific to email, but we often drop subjects and shorten phrases when talking as well.
So the roleplay we're going to show is actually a phone conversation, because it's kind of hard to do a roleplay with emails.
It could be a Slack conversation as well, right?
But so this is a conversation where I have just called my coworker, Lindsay.
Okay, let's do it.
So we're on the phone now, but we're getting at the same idea.
Yes, exactly.
I'll start us out.
Hey, Lindsay, just calling to follow up on the message I sent earlier.
Yep, received.
Been meaning to call you.
No worries.
Just checking the status.
So far, it looks great.
No changes at the moment.
Good to hear.
If no objections, I'll move forward.
All right.
So the same with a business conversation.
We do the same thing with email, where we're going to point out all of the times here where we're dropping words subject verb, anything that's not necessary.
Exactly.
So we're going to go through this and break it down.
What exactly was dropped, right?
What would be the full sentence here?
So for the first one, you said just calling to follow up, right?
And essentially what you're saying is here.
I'm just calling to follow up, but you don't.
It's obvious that you're calling.
Exactly.
So we'll often drop that.
Yeah, for sure.
And we could also drop.
When I said the message I sent earlier, it was interesting how I felt that it was unnecessary to say that.
I probably would say instead just calling to follow up on the message from earlier.
Oh, because I would know, right?
You know that I'm talking about the messages.
I sent.
But sometimes you might need this.
If there are a lot of messages and they're coming from a lot of people, I might want to clarify that I'm talking about a message I sent you.
Yeah.
So, so much of this dropping business is about context.
It's about what we already know.
What do we already know?
Exactly.
Yes.
And then I said, yep, received.
So here I sound kind of procedural or something, I guess, right?
Transactional, but it works.
So what I'm saying here is I received it or...
And then I said, been meaning to call you, meaning I've been meaning to call you.
Again, dropping a lot of I's here.
So when we're in a hurry, when it's a quick conversation at work, we appreciate saving each other's time.
It doesn't really feel short or abrupt to be dropping this because we're busy.
We've got things to do.
We appreciate it, at least in the United States, right?
So when you say, yep, received.
That works for you instead of saying, yes, I got it.
Yes, I received it at 8 a.m.
We don't need any extra details.
And then just the I've been meaning to call you.
Again, don't need the I've, right?
Been meaning to call you.
We're going to drop that.
Yeah, because we are.
I mean, American business culture is very focused on getting the job done right.
Completing the project.
It's a little less I mean so compared to other cultures.
I think there's been research done that says that American business culture is a little less relationship oriented and a little more task oriented.
I think that's probably fair to say broadly speaking, whereas other cultures, I think, are a little bit more engaged in the relationship at work.
It doesn't mean relationships don't matter.
That's the whole premise of this podcast.
But if we compare countries and cultures, there's a difference there.
So I wonder if in other languages it's valid to what we're doing here to drop subjects.
Well, it's really interesting because, based on my experience with people who have these more high context cultures, I would say at the beginning of this conversation, there might be a little more time to like how was your weekend catch up?
Like have that personal connection.
But then once we dive into the business, it's very possible.
I would be interested to know, but that in other language we also would do this.
Drop the subject verb if it's understood.
We're still trying to save time.
But maybe there would be a little more personal connection at the beginning of the conversation, depending on the culture.
That's really interesting.
Maybe we'll form a survey question or a poll question in Spotify.
Guys, make sure you're listening in Spotify so you can get our polls.
That's the only place you can see the polls and answer the questions and participate.
Yes, I would love to hear feedback about that.
So come back to Spotify for the poll so we can find out if this tracks in your culture.
Yeah, where did we leave off here?
We got onto a little bit of a tangent, but I love it.
I said, no worries, just checking the status.
And I just dropped I'm, right?
I don't need to say I'm just checking the status.
You know, I'm talking about myself.
Totally.
And then I said, so far it looks great.
No changes at the moment.
So I'm saying I don't have any changes, or there are no changes, or no changes are required at the moment.
And it was interesting.
I kind of noticed as you went to say that you almost said so far looks great, because I think we would often do that.
We'd drop that it.
We don't need it.
Right.
Don't have to say so far it looks great.
Drop it.
So far looks great.
I know.
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
And so that's a bonus.
There's actually more opportunities in this script to drop further things.
That's really interesting.
Okay, last one.
And then I said, good to hear.
If no objections, I'll move forward.
So we do this a lot where we'll drop the there are, right?
If there are no objections, it's not needed.
It's implied.
It's understood.
We'll just say if no objections, if no objections.
Yes, love it.
It's so interesting how this works at work, because I think maybe a lot of our listeners have an idea that work should be formal or sentences should be perfectly textbook crafted.
But it's not true, right.
It's not true.
It's about that connection.
Yeah.
And it is interesting.
I love that we pointed out that the way you talk on Slack is probably quite a bit less formal than the way you would speak at work in a meeting.
But emails are that as well.
If you are writing in full complete sentences.
You might be being too formal in your emails.
Be observant of the emails you're getting from others, the words they're dropping, these phrases.
This saves everyone time.
Well, that's a good point, too.
As you started a new workplace, be observant.
Observe, observe, observe.
Before you just assume this is okay, because there may be some workplaces that are really a bit more formal.
Maybe people are not close to each other.
They don't know each other well.
So they do stay formal and they don't drop.
So that's the other piece is make sure you know the company culture.
Yeah, good point.
Interesting.
And we also want to make sure, if you missed it, scroll up to episode 561 right here on Business English.
Do you make mistakes at work?
Five adverbs to articulate what happened.
We all make mistakes, right?
You want interesting ways to talk about it to connect at work.
All right.
Really good stuff today.
Important topic observing your company culture, knowing that this can be done if other people are doing it and going for it.
Because it's clarity.
It's about communication.
It's about getting the point across and getting the job done.
Yes, I'm so curious if this is one of those things that, now that you've heard this episode, you're going to be observing in emails.
You're probably going to see this everywhere, whether you noticed it before or not, because we do it all the time.
Super interesting.
Good episode today, Aubrey.
Thanks for bringing these observations from your email inbox straight from your inbox.
I love that.
And we'll talk to you soon.
All right.
Awesome.
See you next time.
Bye.
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