I attach, I am attaching, or I have attached [closed]

Please include the research you've done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic.

Closed 7 years ago .

So I got into this discussion with my German colleague about what's the proper way to write a particular sentence in an internal work email. I would really appreciate it if you could explain why any particular approach is correct or incorrect. Her email had two attachments. One with and one without mark-ups. What she had initially written:

I attach a clean version and a mark-up of the document
What I thought was correct
I've attached a clean and a marked-up version of the document
What I also thought was correct
I'm attaching a clean and a marked-up version of the document
What she finally wrote
I've attached a clean version and a mark-up of the document
67.1k 10 10 gold badges 155 155 silver badges 226 226 bronze badges asked Apr 19, 2017 at 8:28 181 2 2 gold badges 2 2 silver badges 5 5 bronze badges

Arguably, any of them are correct, but I think the first version ("I attach") sounds very pretentious. Think of a posh person with a monocle and excellent British-like articulation: 'I [hereby] attach a clean version. '

Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 2:06

1 Answer 1

"I attach" seems an awkward construction. Many people (especially Indians) use "I am attaching" but I think the best option is "I have attached" because you have already attached it! Both 'mark-up' and 'marked up version' mean the same though mark-up is simpler and 'marked up version' is more formal. In any case, even work related emails offer great flexibility of language, and the main intention is to make yourself understood clearly!

answered Apr 19, 2017 at 9:05 English Student English Student 7,382 8 8 gold badges 36 36 silver badges 65 65 bronze badges I attach; I am attaching & I have attached work equally well. Suit yourself. Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 9:12

Right. As I said, even work related emails offer great flexibility of language, and the main intention is to make yourself understood clearly!

Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 9:23

In formal letter writing we used to write sentences like "I attach a copy of the document in question", "I am attaching a copy of the bill for your kind reference", "please find attached a list of the items ordered for", etc; but for some reason, "I have attached" was rarely used. Now that emails are the currency of business correspondence, it is interesting that 'I have attached the pdf file" seems somehow more appropriate, if only because "attaching a file" is a specific task that is completed before sending the email!

Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 9:32