Post by FBPost by Enrico CPost by FBPost by Enrico CPost by FBPost by Enrico CI am writing to you on behalf of...
Per carità, non andare a dirlo su a.u.e.: non si scrive "I'm writing...",
"I write...", perché è pleonastico.
Ma sei sicuro?
Di averlo letto, certamente: http://snipurl.com/be2h
Ho letto il thread, però solo un poster consiglia di usare "I write" al
posto di "I am writing", mi pare.
Non facevo differenza tra "I write" e "I'm writing". È "scrivo per dire"
che è pleonastico, poiché è palese che tu stia scrivendo: "di' e basta", è
ciò che molti scrissero su a.u.e. Come ho detto, io non sarei così deciso
nel bandire o quasi questa formula.
The original phrase was 'vi scrivo per conto di' , 'I am writing to you on
behalf of' - so in this case the pleonasm is justified ; e.g. 'I am writing
to you on behalf of Mr. Robbem to tell you that he will not be able to
speak as promised at ...' ; what else would you say ? 'On behalf of Mr.
Robbem , I tell you that... ' - clumsy , rude , no-one would ever write that
; 'On behalf of Mr. Robbem , I must inform you that...' is coldly formal
and therefore inappropriate , and is open anyway to the same charge of
pleonasm - don't say you're informing , just inform ! 'Mr Robbem will not be
able to speak...' does not convey the information that you are authorised to
speak for Mr. Robbem .
In any case , we have all sorts of ways of introducing a statement or
question which , without preamble , would seem too abrupt , both in formal
and friendly letters . 'Dear Juno , Tom has just had a big quarrel with
Hermione...' might seem a bit portentous if it's a bit of gossip , and would
often become something like ,'I just thought I'd let you know that Tom has
...' , which is doubly pleonastic ; 'I'm writing to ...' is just one way of
getting into a subject which is very common and convenient , and no worse
than many alternatives .
Certainly in a few cases it could be irritatingly unnecessary , but overall
I think you're right to have doubts about proscribing it .
Mike