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I'll arrange the schedule accordingly.

The situation is I was asked to arrange a schedule to welcome a guest to our office from a US branch and I just got his preferred date and time to visit. I was told my answer sounded a bit strange because "accordingly" is old-fashioned and too polite.

Is it true? If so, could you tell me any other suitable phrases for this situation?

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    It sounds perfectly fine to me. "Accordingly" implies that the arrangement of the schedule will take into account the concerns just discussed. If you just say "I'll arrange the schedule" your listener has no such assurance.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 12:13
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    @DanBron: I hope this question doesn't get flagged, as I think it's a legitimate one about usage rather than proofreading. In fact, I'm surprised to hear the phrase described as "strange" and "stilted". It's certainly a bit formal, but there are contexts where such formality is appropriate: for example, in an email reply to a CEO's instruction. In Australia it's not an unusual expression.
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 12:33
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    I have seen many phrases that are not very often spoken such as "per your request", "per requested", etc. used in e-mail correspondence. Accordingly might not be spoken very often, but I don't think it has any problem in formal e-mail correspondence. One thing I find very strange is your colleague in the U.S. I have worked with US colleagues for more than 20 years and I have never heard any one of them say my English is strange. Please check if (s)he is a native English speaker. That's plain rude.
    – user140086
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 12:40
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    @Rathony I agree with you about the rudeness. When I see colleagues do that, my usual barb is "Yes, you're right, it does seem like English isn't perfectly natural for him. Let's switch to Hindi [or Spanish or German or whatever the native language of the victim is]". This works particularly well because I live in the US, and nobody is bilingual. Shuts them right up. Dicks. Anyway, I personally despise "per your request" and all other "email-ese". But I'm smart enough to keep mum on those peeves....
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 14:09
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    Understand that "accordingly" is not just a bit of polite happy talk. It means "in accordance with the stated objectives".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 20:45

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Unless you are trying to make a point of being informal, there is no reason (other than it would be a shorter sentence) to drop the word. If anything you will end up sounding more professional and possibly more intelligent. Basically: it's a perfectly everyday word, use it if you want to.

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In my experience in the legal profession, the adverb "accordingly" is most often used in its written form by attorneys at the end of "cease and desist" demand letters threatening litigation as: "GOVERN YOURSELVES ACCORDINGLY" (traditionally written in all capital letters), which is obviously not intended to be polite or kind (it's a demand after all). Therefore, when I see the written word used elsewhere, the usage never strikes me as polite or kind, as I'm predisposed to viewing it from the perspective of its usage in a legal context. Additionally, I rarely hear the word "accordingly" spoken by others (but more frequently hear less negatively-charged synonyms such as: so, therefore, thus, subsequently, correspondingly, respectively).

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    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 18:26
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Accordingly does make the sentence more polite and friendly but it is an old fashioned word and I feel a little out of context here.

It would have made more sense if you were given something and you had to work with respect to that (according to that)

If you want to have the politeness and not sound strange, how about these alternatives:

I'll arrange the schedule surely.

or better still,

Sure, I'll prepare the itinerary

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    I may be old-fashioned, but IMHO there is nothing old-fashioned about appropriately - not in AmE usage anyway (IMO). I'm guessing, because you and @DanBron both feel that it is old-fashioned, that this might depend on culture & context.
    – Drew
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 13:27
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    FWIW (maybe not much), this ngram suggests that its usage has declined only slightly in the last 50 years.
    – Drew
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 13:31
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    "Surely" does not have anywhere near the same meaning as "accordingly".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 20:43
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    @HotLicks, I did not suggest surely has the same meaning as accordingly
    – Darshan Chaudhary
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 11:47
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    But you propose replacing a meaningful word with a relatively meaningless one. "Accordingly" has a meaning -- it means "in accordance with the stated objectives".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 11:49

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