{"id":98,"date":"2013-02-13T13:49:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monkeygrammar.org\/index.php\/2013\/02\/13\/to-inform-you-or-be-informed\/"},"modified":"2020-04-15T13:29:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T13:29:20","slug":"to-inform-you-or-be-informed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/to-inform-you-or-be-informed\/","title":{"rendered":"TO INFORM YOU or BE INFORMED"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

When you write emails to your customers, do you want to be <\/span><\/span>polite<\/span> <\/span>or <\/span>impolite<\/span>?  <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>Is that a <\/span>real<\/span><\/span> question?<\/span>  <\/span>
\nWell, I guess most of you want to be polite. Yet the <\/span>real <\/span>question is: <\/span>how<\/span>? <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b> <\/span>How<\/span> to be <\/span>polite<\/span> in your <\/span>emails<\/span>?<\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/span> <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n_______________________________________________________   <\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>THE QUESTION IS: BE INFORMED <\/span>OR<\/span> TO INFORMED YOU<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>If you want to know how, read the following two sentences:<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

1.<\/span>         <\/span>Please <\/span>be informed<\/span> that the task is complete.    <\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

2.<\/span>        <\/span>This is <\/span>to inform you<\/span> that the task is complete. <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\nSo which one is more polite?  You probably think that the first one is more polite, right? <\/span>But <\/span>why<\/span>? <\/span>What why<\/span>? <\/span>I mean, if you want to <\/span>improve<\/span>, <\/span>enhance<\/span>, <\/span>upgrade<\/span>, or<\/span> <\/span>boost<\/span> your Office (business) English, you have to know <\/span>why<\/span>, <\/span>the reasons behind<\/span>, right?<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/span>_______________________________________________________  <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span>WHY’BE INFORMED’ IS MORE POLITE<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>So here you are, <\/span>the reasons behind<\/span>. Sentence 1 is <\/span>in passive voice<\/span>, so it is more polite. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>That\u2019s it<\/span>? Well, it could be.  <\/span>But there is <\/span>something more<\/span>about the verb \u2018inform\u2019. \u2018Inform\u2019 is a <\/span>special<\/span>verb.  How special is it?<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span> <\/span>It is a <\/span>Friendly<\/span> Verb<\/span>.  <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\nWhat<\/span>?  What do I mean? <\/span>I mean \u2018inform\u2019 is usually<\/span> followed by someone<\/span> (or <\/span>a friend<\/span>), for example, <\/span>I am writing to <\/span>inform you<\/span> that you have won a prize.   <\/span> <\/span>So the <\/span>friend<\/span> of \u2018inform\u2019 is \u2018you\u2019, and you <\/span>can\u2019t<\/span> leave out the word \u2018you\u2019, which is why \u2018inform\u2019 is a <\/span><\/span>Friendly Verb<\/span>.  <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>(What is a Friendly Verb<\/span>? A verb that wants to be with a person, or a friend all the time. So you do not<\/span> write things like: I informed<\/span>. I told<\/span>.)<\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>With the idea of Friendly verbs, you can see that the <\/span><\/b>coming sentence is <\/span>ABSOLUTELY<\/span> <\/span>wrong<\/span>: <\/span><\/span>I am writing to <\/span>inform <\/span>that you have won a prize.   <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>(Why: The you (the friend) is missing)<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/span> <\/span>
\nIn other words, in the above sentence, \u2018inform\u2019 becomes a <\/span>Lonely Verb<\/span>, with no friends <\/span>around. <\/span><\/b>So the problem is solved? <\/span>Well, <\/span>not yet<\/span>. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n_______________________________________________________ <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span>INFORM + YOU <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span>There is a <\/span>problem<\/span> with \u2018<\/span>inform<\/span> <\/span>+<\/span> <\/span>you<\/span>\u2019.  <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>What <\/span>problem<\/span> is it? <\/span>It implies something <\/span>bad<\/span>. <\/span>How bad<\/span> is it? <\/span>It implies <\/span>that \u2018you\u2019 is <\/span>inferior<\/span>, <\/span>that \u2018you\u2019 has <\/span>a lower status<\/span>, <\/span>and <\/span><\/span>that the one <\/span>who writes the email<\/span> has <\/span>more \u2018power\u2019 <\/span>than \u2018you\u2019<\/span>.<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>You <\/span>don\u2019t get<\/span> it. <\/span>Well, what about the following sentence?  <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span> I <\/span>told you<\/span> to finish it before 6pm.  <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>That is, ‘t<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>old<\/span> + <\/span>you’ <\/span>is<\/span> <\/span><\/span>impolite<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/a><\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>So if you want to be polite with \u2018inform\u2019, give it a <\/span>twist<\/span>.  <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>How are you going to twist it? <\/span>Put \u2018inform\u2019 <\/span>in passive voice<\/span> and the sentence becomes: <\/span>Please <\/span>be informed<\/i><\/span> that the task is complete. <\/span><\/span>In other words, when you put \u2018inform\u2019 in passive voice, the word \u2018<\/span>you<\/span>\u2019 can be <\/span>skipped<\/span>. <\/span><\/b> <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>_______________________________________________________ <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>INFORM + ME<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Yet<\/span>, there is a situation in which you can <\/span><\/span>still be polite<\/span> with \u2018<\/span>inform<\/span> <\/span>+<\/span> <\/span>someone<\/span>\u2019. <\/span>What is it? <\/span>Well, the someone does not necessarily have to be \u2018you\u2019, right? <\/span>In fact it can be \u2018<\/span>me<\/span>\u2019 or \u2018<\/span>us<\/span>\u2019. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>So when you<\/span> <\/span>ask for information<\/span><\/span> and you want to be <\/span>polite<\/span>, you may write:<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/b>Please<\/span> inform us<\/span> of any change regarding the proposal<\/span> <\/span>(discussed yesterday)<\/span>.<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/span>_______________________________________________________<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\nSo to sum up, the <\/span>F<\/span>ee<\/span>l G<\/span>oo<\/span>d T<\/span>i<\/span>ps<\/span> are:<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n
Inform + me \/ us<\/span><\/td>\nPOLITE<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Inform + you<\/span><\/td>\nIMPOLITE<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n


\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nPic Sources:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/76029035@N02\/6829383079\/in\/photostream\/?reg=1&src=comment<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dylaphant07\/8191530690\/in\/photostream<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jdickert\/2267116583\/sizes\/m\/in\/photostream\/<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you write emails to your customers, do you want to be polite or impolite?   Is that a real question?   Well, I guess most of you want to be polite. Yet the real question is: how?  How to be polite in your emails? _______________________________________________________   THE QUESTION IS: BE INFORMED OR TO INFORMED […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FreeGreatPicture.com-29122-fun-business.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":725,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}