When you talk to your coworkers and customers, do you use the verb ‘discuss‘. If you use it quite often, then you have to be very careful. Why? There are always traps waiting for you. What traps? There is one for you now. Watch out!
We discussed about the project (on marketing).
The sentence is wrong! Yes, read my lips (though you can’t). It is absolutely WRONG. What’s wrong with the sentence? It looks good, right? No, it’s not. Want to know what’s wrong with it? Read it again:
We discussed about the project (on marketing).
You may:
But if you discuss ABOUT a project, you fall into a trap. But why is it wrong? ‘Discuss about’ is wrong because when you use it, you have some kind of power. What power is it? It is the power over a project. In other words, a project is like a dog, and you are like a master. For example, you may say:
You walk a dog.
(Well, maybe two dogs)
And you don’t need any prepositions between the action and the dog. What prepositions?
You walk WITH a dog. VS You walk a dog.
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In other words, the above two sentences are very different in meaning. The first one (walk with a dog) puts you and a dog on an equal footing. The second one is different. You are a master, having power over a dog. The same rule applies to the verb ‘discuss’. You may:
discuss a case
discuss an issue
discuss a problem
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So, when you talk on the phone with a customer, you may say: If you would like to discuss the matter (further), please come to our office.
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Reference:
Lock, G. (1996) Functional English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (p.74-75).
Pic sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829527437/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddebold/2936900395/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829524451/sizes/m/in/photostream/
