English at Work
Communication expert KEN TAYLOR answers your questions about business English. Here, he looks at ways of expressing pity, and has advice on improving your e-mails.
Ken Taylor answers your questions
Dear Ken
When I would like to say Das ist schade! in English, I’m never quite sure whether it’s better to use “That’s a pity!” or “That’s a shame!” Is there a difference in meaning between the two expressions? Is one of them more common perhaps?
Many thanks for your help.
Kind regards
Margit H.
Dear Margit
If you look up the words “pity” and “shame” in the Oxford English Dictionary, you’ll find that, as a mass noun, they mean very different things:
pity: “The feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the sufferings and misfortunes of others.”
shame: “A painful feeling of distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour.”
However, if you look at the entries for those two words as a countable noun, you’ll find that there isn’t much of a difference in meaning:
a pity: “A cause for regret or disappointment.” a shame: “A regrettable or unfortunate situation or action.”
I’d say that native speakers use the expressions “That’s a pity!” and “That’s a shame!” interchangeably. I have no idea, though, which of the two expressions is the more commonly used. I did read somewhere that “That’s a shame!” is more common, simply because it has fewer syllables than “That’s a pity!” — but I’m afraid I don’t know whether this is actually the case. All the best
Ken
Dear Ken
I write a lot of e-mails in English and feel quite confident that my grammar is correct and that I use vocabulary in the right way. But sometimes, from some of the replies I receive, I get the feeling that my message does not come across clearly enough.
Do you have any tips that could help me? Regards
Elisabeth K.
Dear Elisabeth
Making sure that your message is clearly understood is key, of course. Here are six tips to help you do that:
1. The heading of your e-mail should be informative and as specific as possible. Just by glancing at it, the recipient should know exactly what the mail is about.
2. The purpose of your e-mail should be clearly stated in the first paragraph and provide detail to the message in the heading. This motivates the recipient to continue reading attentively. (Some people say that you have only 15 seconds to catch a reader’s attention!)
3. Your mail should be clearly organized. Each idea
should flow logically from the previous one. 4. Keep your paragraphs short and make sure that each paragraph contains only one main idea. This means that there will be more white space on the page, which makes it easier for the reader to focus on your message.
5. The main idea of each paragraph should be stated in the first sentence. Again, this helps to keep your reader’s full attention.
6. Make sure that your language is simple and direct. Keep your sentences short and your messages as concise as possible.
Hope this helps.
Best regards
Ken