Search results for: request

The phrase “in a timely manner” conjures up images of a bygone era when time seemed to move more slowly. It has its origins in the emergence of bureaucracy, and has been replaced by terms more commonly used these days in project management.  In the 21st century, we would more likely speak of delivering, ‘to …

There are different types of verbs. Transitive verbs take a direct object. For instance, you say, “I read the book” and “they saw the game.” On the other hand, intransitive verbs need no direct object. This is why you can say “I jumped” or “they ran,” and you would have a complete sentence consisting of …

Through the advent of technology, emails have replaced written letters and stressful face-to-face interactions. In correspondence, a sign-off message is an important politeness marker which serves as a closing cue to end an interaction. Interestingly, these all-too-common sign-off messages may imply a variety of tones and meaning to the audience. To shed light on these …

The act of expressing gratitude is a fundamental part of building and maintaining social relationships. Expressive statements are used in both formal and informal registers to mark the sense of reciprocity toward a favor or any act of kindness provided. We tend to use a particular form of formalistic gratitude verbiage to people with whom …

Human beings are gifted with intellectual and physical abilities to communicate with one another. Other than that, humans also have the ability to create a psychological impact by using meaningful expressions in discourse. Since communication goes beyond logic, we can deduce the meaning of expressions subsumed in words, phrases, and sentences. In this article, we …

Linguistic politeness facilitates human civilization in a myriad of ways. This concept elicits the fact that people are capable of considering others’ emotions, thereby reinforcing the importance of polite language in communication. One utterly common example of polite language goes by the verbiage “Thank you for letting me know.” Let’s take a closer look at …

There are some expressions that you come across time and again, yet you aren’t sure what they exactly mean. For me, I was never sure what “by the skin of one’s teeth.” It just never made sense to me. How can someone escape “by the skin of their teeth”? Then, I looked into it and …

Plenty of expressions derive their meaning from the context within which they are used. For instance, when you say something as simple as “sure,” you might be saying more than one thing. On the one hand, you might be simply agreeing with the person you’re talking to, and there’s no reason not to take you …

Common words are sometimes used in combinations that seem contradictory. “Exquisitely vicious” is one example that shows up sometimes in fiction. However, even the most poetic flight of fancy is no match for this article’s topic, the confusing phrase “indirect signature required.” How can a signature be indirect? Read on to find out.   What …