I would like a polite (formal) way to say:
The changes you intend to make will not do us any good.
or should I say "intend on making"?
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1There's also The changes you are intent on making..., which is probably the least "polite" way of putting it.– FumbleFingersCommented Jan 2, 2013 at 17:48
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4 Answers
You could say:
"We feel that the intended changes will be of little benefit."
This avoids directly saying "you", which could come across as impolite.
Although not quite the same, you could also use "the proposed changes".
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3@Nniiss: Strictly speaking, the fact that you're apparently happy with a rephrasing suggests your question is effectively Off Topic "style advice/proofreading". This answer makes no attempt to address the question you appeared to ask, about any possible difference between intend on making,intend to make Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 17:44
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Apparently, intend on is a common error in English usage:
You can plan on doing something, but you intend to do it. Many people confuse these two expressions with each other and mistakenly say “intend on”*. Of course if you are really determined, you can be intent on doing something.
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I don't agree that to intend on [doing something] is an erroneous/ungrammatical form caused by conflation of intent on/intend to. As you say, you can plan on doing something, so there's nothing apart from convention to stop you intending on doing it. And since I intend on has been around for centuries, I suggest it's well-established enough to be considered a "standard" grammatical form. Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 20:41
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@FumbleFingers: But it's not included in the dictionary (at least not in the famous ones that I checked) and your search yielded 19k results only. I still think it's a common error.– GigiliCommented Jan 3, 2013 at 6:20
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Yeah, well I reckon on calling it a day then. I'm not about to concede that I'm an incompetent speaker, and you obviously think intend has some special quality distinguishing it from words like plan, reckon in such constructions, so I don't think either of us is about to change our minds. :) Commented Jan 3, 2013 at 13:26
Notice that the first answer suggests several different improvements, each of which makes it more polite:
(a) It replaces the stark "not do... good" with the softer "little benefit" (which avoids "no" or "not").
(b) "Any" is often added for emphasis, so "not... ANY good" means especially worthless! On the other hand, "will not do us good" sounds awkward.
(c) It adds "We feel that..." which makes it an opinion rather than an absolute (even though it's about benefit to us, so it works out as absolute). Any time you qualify a statement with "in my opinion" you are being a bit more polite.
Perhaps something like this would be more polite:
I don't understand how these proposed changes will help you or me.
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yeah, but in a formal letter directly saying "you" could come across as impolite.– NniissCommented Jan 3, 2013 at 19:01