Spotlight – September 2019

9/2019 Spotlight 61

ENGLISH AT WORK

Dear Ken

Communication expert KEN TAYLOR answers your

questions about business English. In this issue, he looks

at the words “already” and “yet” and has advice on

how to say “no” without offending anybody.

MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS

Send your questions

about business English

by e-mail with “Dear

Ken” in the subject line

to: language@

spotlight-verlag.de

Each month, I answer

two questions Spotlight

readers have sent in.

If one of them is your

question, you’ll receive

a copy of my book: Dear

Ken... 101 answers to

your questions about

business English. So

don’t forget to add your

postal address.

Dear Ken

How do I say “no” to someone in a polite way?

If someone asks me to do something for them,

I sometimes say, “No, I can’t” and then tell

them why. Is this OK?

Best regards

Hildegard M.

Dear Hildegard

Your response to a request is OK, but it could

be made more politely.

Let’s look at an example: someone has asked

me to attend a meeting and I want to say “no”.

In this case, I use a three- or four-step approach:

Step 1:

I apologize by using the phrase “I’m afraid...”:

“I’m afraid I can’t.”

“I’m afraid...” means “it is not in my power to

help you at the moment, so please don’t take

it personally”.

Step 2:

I give a valid reason: “I’m away on a training

programme on that day.”

The reason needs to be valid and acceptable

to the person making the request. It should be

truthful (but doesn’t necessarily have to tell the

whole truth).

Step 3:

I empathize with the person making the re-

quest: “I’m really sorry.”

The feeling you create is that if the circum-

stances were different, you would be happy to

satisfy their request.

Step 4:

In some situations, you may be able to offer an

alternative solution: “Maybe Michael is free.

He’s familiar with the project, too.”

If you follow this approach, your refusals will

sound polite and reasonable.

Regards

Ken

Dear Ken

In my class, we have come across a little gram-

mar issue. In the book we use, we found the

question: “Have you already booked the

flight?” In my opinion, the question should

read: “Have you booked the flight yet?”

We would be very grateful if you could help us

clarify this problem.

Thank you very much in advance.

Regards

Ira G.

Dear Ira

To answer your question, both “Have you

already booked the flight?” and “Have you

booked the flight yet?” are correct question

forms. But “already” and “yet” have slightly

different meanings.

Already is used to suggest that something

has happened earlier than expected. When

it’s used in a question, the person who asks the

question expects the answer to be “yes”.

So, when you ask, “Have you already booked

the flight?” the question means: “You’ve

booked the flight, I suppose.”

If you change the word order to “Have you

booked the flight already?” this can indicate

that you are surprised it has been done so

soon.

Ye t is used to talk about things that are ex-

pected to happen. So, the question “Have you

booked the flight yet?” is simply asking for in-

formation. It can be answered in several ways:

“Not yet,” or “No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, I have.”

“Yes, I already have.” (if the flight was booked

earlier than expected)

“Yes, I have already.” (if the flight was booked

surprisingly early)

All the best

Ken

approach [E(prEUtS]

, Methode, Vorgehens-

weise

circumstance

[(sɜːkEmstÄns]

, Umstand

clarify [(klÄrEfaI]

, klären

empathize [(empETaIz]

, Mitgefühl empfinden

grateful [(greItf&l]

, dankbar

suggest [sE(dZest]

, nahelegen

suppose [sE(pEUz]

, annehmen, vermuten

valid [(vÄlId]

, stichhaltig, triftig

KEN TAYLOR

is a communication

consultant and

author of 50 Ways

to Improve Your

Business English

(Lulu Publishing).

Contact:

[email protected]

ENGLISH AT WORK

Foto: Gert Krautbauer