This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 248.
Have you already made this common business English mistake?
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Hey there, Aubrey. What's going on today?
How you doing? I'm great. How are you, Lindsay?
Aubrey, I have a question to start off today.
Are you ready? Yes, I'm ready. So what have you already accomplished today, just today?
What have you already done? Yeah. Good question.
My kids are home from spring break. So I've already made them breakfast and hung out with them a while.
And then I got some work done before we started recording.
So I've already done a lot today. Yeah. Are you a morning person?
Do you usually get to 10 a.m. and say, oh, my gosh, I've already done all these things?
Or is it more? I really am. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a very early riser. and I'm energetic in the morning, so absolutely a morning person.
I get a lot done in the morning. I think you're the same, right, Lindsay?
I feel the same way. I have a lot of clarity in the morning.
That's when I like to try to do my best work in the morning.
It's a good time for me, for sure. Yeah.
Yes. You'll notice you asked me and included the word already, and I answered with already.
This is what we're highlighting today. the use of this adverb already, there's a very common mistake made, especially in business English emails.
So we're going to really break it down today so that you guys can avoid this common error.
Yeah, we're going to get into it. But first, guys, go ahead and hit that follow button right there on your podcast player, wherever you are listening.
If you're listening on our YouTube channel, which we hope to launch soon for Business English, hit subscribe.
But if you're listening in a podcast, hit that follow button. uh apple spotify wherever it is hit follow so you get these episodes automatically right aubry awesome yes absolutely okay so let me clarify sort of what is the mistake first so imagine you email someone about something that they need to do and they email and say thank you for letting me know and then later they email saying i've already done it right i've already done that so what is the error here lindsay yeah so Already, the word already is a special kind of word, right?
Because it implies that the thing was done before you told them about it.
So if I write to you, I say, could you please complete this?
And then the person writes back and says, I've already done it.
It means done. It doesn't need to be done because it's already been done before you even asked me about it.
Right? Right. So that could really create confusion.
If you ask someone to do something and they say it's already done, they're saying, no, I don't need to do that.
It's been done. And you might then check and say, no, oh, no, it's not.
And this could create quite a lot of confusion.
How I see it happen even more often is someone's like, yep, you're right.
I need to do that. But then when they email to say it's finished, they'll say, I've already done that, right?
Totally understandable. This is a very common mistake.
We see it all the time and very easy to avoid once we break down exactly how to use already.
But first let's go into what would someone write instead in that case, right?
If they they agree they need to do something, they do it, how could they let you know without using already?
Right, so just to clarify again, the timeline, they've received the assignment, they've done it, and now they're writing to report that it's done, right?
Exactly. This is what we could say, this is done, is one thing, right?
There's a few other options though, right Aubrey?
Yeah, you could say, I've now completed this, or I've finished this task, what you would want to avoid is saying, I've already completed it.
This is already done. Just avoid entirely using the word already if it was something that you did need to do after being told about it.
Right. And I think this is probably a translation from different languages, right?
Has to be. Very likely. Or it could be a little bit of a misunderstanding of what exactly already means, right?
Because there is sort of a nuance here. It's quite finite that it means Before I was asked before I found out about something it had already been done, right?
It's kind of nuanced. You're right Aubrey.
It's really interesting But it's important because it could lead to confusion at the work in the workplace, right?
So we do have a roleplay, right? So we're gonna do a mini roleplay of an email exchange between Lindsay and me.
So Lindsay go ahead and start us out What's the email that you're going to send?
I'm gonna say can you please edit the file by Friday?
I Yeah, and I'm just emailing back, yes, no problem.
Then we have a little time passing, and I would then say, I've finished editing the file, thanks.
And avoiding the error of saying, I've already edited the file.
Because then it might be confusing to you to think, oh, wait, you mean you did it before I told you about it?
Right. Right. And it's just easier because less words to add into our email.
Right. It's just faster and easier and more simple this way.
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Exclusions apply, see details online. Okay, now let's go in a little bit deeper into how to use already.
Let's talk more about this word. Yes, because you can use already if you did finish something before you were asked to do it or if you're explaining tasks that have been completed prior to a conversation.
And also if you're asking someone if they've already done something.
All of these conversations come up all the time at work, in business emails. just in the right way, right?
So here's how to use it correctly, right?
So here's an example, right? So for example, I've already reserved the conference room.
So we're all set for the meeting. So it doesn't mean I'm going to go and reserve the conference room now or anything like that.
It was done before we even had the conversation.
Right? Exactly. You are reporting something that you already did.
You did it in the past. So this is often when we use it to share a task that was completed prior to the current conversation.
Right, exactly. And it also kind of implies that maybe other people don't know it's been done before the conversation a little bit, right?
Almost like you're ahead of schedule. Yeah.
That's true because you could just say, I've reserved the conference room.
It does have that little bit of an implication of like, I was ahead of the game.
I got this done before anyone even asked me.
It does. So there's a little bit of an extra nuance in there that is important to keep in mind at the high levels of connection at work.
Yeah, really good point. And you might ask someone something like, did you already send that proposal to the client?
And there is a little bit of a nuance here because you could just say, did you send that proposal to the client?
So there's a little bit of meaning added here to share that it was almost done ahead of schedule.
Right, right, right. I love that. And you could also say the present perfect with that too, right, Aubrey?
You could say, have you already sent that proposal to the client, do you think?
Can you say that? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I think that works.
Have you already sent that proposal? Absolutely.
Either would work. Okay. So we have another role play now, right?
And what are we doing here? Yes, so you and our coworkers discussing tasks for a shared project.
Okay. And we'll show how we can use already here.
All right. I'll start us out. Okay. Could you proofread my first draft?
Sure, no problem. Let me know when you finish it.
I already finished, actually. I'll email it to you right away.
Great. I think I need to contact the hotel about reserving their conference room.
Ah, good news. I already did that. Nice.
So this is where we really would use already in a regular conversation because in both of these instances, let's look at the first one.
I said, you're assuming that I haven't finished something, letting me know, asking me to tell you when it's finished.
This really makes sense to say, oh, I already finished actually, because it's sort of surprising that it's already done.
Hmm. I love that. And then where else did we say, oh, okay.
So you said, I think I need to contact the hotel about reserving that conference room.
I say, good news. I already did that. So again, it means there's an element of unexpectedness here.
Exactly. And this is when we use it the most often.
It's sort of a little bit surprising, a little bit unexpected that something has already been done.
Something was done a little ahead of schedule or a little before the expected time for it to be done.
So then we'll often use already. It's already done.
Yeah. And just as a side point, I might recommend mixing it up and saying other things.
Instead of previously is a good option. Yeah, say, Oh, I previously did that.
That sounds a little bit more formal, but it does have the same meaning.
Yeah, because I don't know, there's something kind of repetitive about it when you're always saying, Oh, I already did it already.
It's already done. It's all right. Just say that's true in a different way.
This is so vital to think about. It really is a skill in the business world to not be bragging on yourself.
And this is one way where you might accidentally do that too much if you're saying, oh, yeah, I already did that.
I did that before you even asked me. You think of the implied benefit.
Feeling from that is not always great. Yeah, I think what we're trying to get out here, at least what I'm thinking here, Aubrey, is we did an episode recently about asking what for or why should I?
It kind of could run into that direction of sounding like it's already done.
I already did it. Sound a little juvenile if you're not careful.
Yes. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I agree.
Especially if you're saying it over and over, like you said.
Yeah. Even just to hear it twice in this role play, but at least it's coming from two different individuals.
Right. But if you say a few things in a row and let people know, yeah, I already did that.
And I already did that. And I already did that.
You can imagine that that would get not only repetitive, but feel a little bit like, okay, this person's sort of bragging about how ahead of schedule they are.
Right. So going back to what we can write instead that we taught at the beginning of the episode is Even going into, I like in our examples, we said, this is done.
I've now completed this. I finished this task.
Going into passive voice again, like this is done or this has been completed, you know, playing around with active voice, passive voice.
And you can also share the exact time you did something to avoid saying already.
If someone asks you to complete a task and you did it last Monday, you could say, I completed that Monday and share extra information.
If you do need to let them know you already did it, you don't have to use the word already.
You could let them know when it was completed or why you completed it early.
Yeah. And then as another extension here, I think it matters what we say next.
So thinking about from a manager's perspective in a company, If you've completed something early, your next question would be, what else can I do or what else do we need?
How else can I help the team? Rather than, I already did it, I'm going home.
Great point, right? I was able to complete that Monday and then maybe share something else you were able to do because it was done early or ask, what are the next steps for this project?
I'm happy to help. You got it. I love that.
So it's not so much about the word. It's about how you say it and what else you say that kind of. gives markers to your dedication, right, to the company and what you're kind of thinking about as a member of the team.
Right, Aubrey? Absolutely. I think that's huge.
Yeah. I agree. I love this episode. Yeah, just mistakes with this adverb are extremely common.
No stress if you do this, but I'm glad to highlight it here with today's tip.
You'll be able to confidently use this adverb and avoid this very common error.
Right. And of course, my note about what else needs to be done, that obviously depends on your role in the company If you're doing one very specific task, then that is awesome.
If you're getting that done, fantastic. But depending on what your role, if you're managing a project, it's more about asking, okay, what else do we need?
How do we make sure this really hits home with the market?
Things like that, that would be a logical next step.
Yes, everybody wants someone like that on their team.
If, like you said, Lindsay, it makes sense in your role. to offer, to let someone know if you have time, if you have more bandwidth, you know, what else can I do to help is always, I love as a parent to hear that.
And also as a coworker, someone in my team, what can I take off your plate?
Ooh, I love those two. Maybe we need to do another episode on just that one skill. asking what else can be done, Aubrey.
And we've just said two fantastic phrases, but we'll save that, guys.
Hit the follow button on Business English.
We'll come back and teach you that another day.
All right. Love it. Good stuff, Aubrey. I'll see you back here very soon.
All right. Awesome. Thanks, Lindsay. All right.
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