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put the needle on me
Change of time adverbs when reporting clause is the Future Simple

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

on behalf of

English answer:

I am writing on behalf of Mr. Watson

    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2015-02-15 05:54:09 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Feb 11, 2015 19:47
10 yrs ago
14 viewers *
English term

on behalf of

Non-PRO English Bus/Financial Management formal email
Dear all,

I'm a bit mixed up with W.O (word order). I have to edit a letter and came across
this sentence.

I am writing in reference to the purchase of the house in Costa del Sol on behalf of Mr. Watson.

my version

I am writing on behalf of Mr. Watson, in reference to the purchase of the house in Costa del Sol.


Thank you very much
Responses
4 +7 I am writing on behalf of Mr. Watson
4 regarding the purchase
Change log

Feb 12, 2015 04:37: Tony M changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Yvonne Gallagher, Charlesp, Tony M

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Discussion

Tony M Feb 12, 2015:
@ Robin In fairness, any native speaker of English (or, as the voting prompt here says "Are you sure that this question could be answered by any bilingual person without the aid of a dictionary?") should immediately be able to distinguish between the two different meanings here. Neither sentence is per se more correct grammatically or even stylistically — it is simply the difference in meaning between 'writing on behalf of' and 'purchase on behalf of'. The whole problem with this question was that the Asker failed to indicate at the outset whether s/he was aware of this difference in meaning and/or which was the correct intended meaning. That is not a pro/non-pro issue — it is simply a matter of asking the right question in order to elicit the right answer.
Jennifer Levey Feb 11, 2015:
@ those who have voted this as 'non-pro' You won't find the answer to this kuestion (as the website prompt says) "in any standard bilingual dictionary".
It is not a 'dictionary' question - it's about the Asker's ability to resolve (or simply accept/replicate) a flagrant ambiguity in the ST.

I find it amusing that one of the 'non-pro-ers' has received 2 disagrees already - with maybe more yet to come...
Tony M Feb 11, 2015:
@ Asker Well in that case, your second, edited version is correct, and the original version is just plain wrong.
nhorma (asker) Feb 11, 2015:
Im writing on behalf of Mr. Watson
Tony M Feb 11, 2015:
Agree with Donal If you are only editing this letter, then you are running a grave risk of changing the meaning completely — whichever of them correctly reflects the required meaning, you need to be aware that they do not mean the same thing!
DLyons Feb 11, 2015:
Are you writing on behalf of Mr. Watson, or is the purchase on behalf of Mr. Watson?

Responses

+7
8 hrs
English term (edited): writing on behalf of
Selected

I am writing on behalf of Mr. Watson

As has already been pointed out at great length, the crux of the matter here is what the originally intended meaning is: 'writing on behalf of' and 'purchase on behalf of'.

In your discussion entry, you have clarified that it is the first of those two meanings that was intended — in which case, the second version, your edit, is correct, and the original was incorrect.

It's just important to appreciate that these are not interchangeable with identical meanings — each would be correct for the respective different meanings.

As a side issue, one of my pet hates is 'in reference to' — I always feel 'with reference to' reads better, or as Nataliya suggested, simply 'regarding'.

Do also please note that, unless 'Costa del Sol' is the name of an actual town, we would more normally say 'on the Costa del Sol'.
Peer comment(s):
agree Alaa57
1 hr
Thanks, Alaa!
agree B D Finch : Also agree with you over your pet hate.
3 hrs
Thanks, B! :-)
agree AllegroTrans
4 hrs
Thanks, C!
agree Yvonne Gallagher
5 hrs
Thanks, G!
agree magdadh : Beautiful explained, and in a great context.
8 hrs
Thnaks, Magdadh!
agree Charlesp
10 hrs
Thanks, Charles! You're a gent :-)
agree acetran
4 days
Thanks, Acetran!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much for your help. I really apologize for not being precise in my query. "
1 hr

regarding the purchase

I am writing on behalf of Mr. Watson regarding the purchase of the house in Costa del Sol. - This would be a bit shorter and less heavy. Try!
Peer comment(s):
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : already answered correctly (see disc.)
34 mins
disagree Jennifer Levey : There's no way that "regarding the purchase" can be a valid rendering of "on behalf of".
1 hr
I just shortened the author's version to sound shorter. For sure these are different phrases!
neutral Tony M : Whilst not disagreeing with your suggestion, it isn't actually answering Asker's question!
7 hrs
agree Charlesp
18 hrs
Something went wrong...
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