Editor's Corner

Donna is feeling a bit under the weather today, so you get a second helping of the Editrix this week!

Dear Editrix,

I don’t know if you do requests, but I have a question about saying “thank you.” A number of speeches I have heard and letters I have seen recently started out something like, “I want to thank…” or, “I would like to thank…”. Would it not be better to simply say “I thank…” or am I missing some meaning in the additional words?

Thank you, J.O.Y.

Dear J.O.Y.,

I take requests as often as your favorite DJ!

My first thought about this wasn’t about English, but about French. I remember learning our verb conjugations and being told that when we ask for anything, it is much more polite to use the conditional (or “conditionnel”) form and say “I would like,” instead of “I want.” But in the cases you mention, both “I would like…” and “I want…” seem to be used in a way to ease into the “thank you.”

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “we use would like or I would like to say politely what we want.”

To answer your question, though, just saying “thank you,” or “I thank the Academy” is more direct, and there is certainly nothing wrong with direct appreciation!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services