When sending an email response, is it grammatically correct to say "I CHECKED your account, and I SEE/CAN SEE that..."
or, should it be "SAW"?
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You do it exactly the same way you would in a letter. Or a phone conversation, for that matter.– Hot LicksCommented Aug 1, 2015 at 17:23
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(The only reason for using "saw" would be if there was some significant chance that the status has changes since you "checked".)– Hot LicksCommented Aug 1, 2015 at 17:24
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2 Answers
If you say "saw", it hints that the situation may have changed since then.
If you say "see/can see", it indicates that there is no change.
Example
"I looked at your account yesterday and saw that it was overdrawn. However, I looked again just a moment ago and see that today it is in credit."
answered Aug 1, 2015 at 16:41
Certainly it's grammatical, but does it make sense? If you can think of what is reported as being two events, one before this was written and then one as it was written, then it makes sense. Suppose the checking involved typing your name in a search box on the computer screen, and the resulting information is in view as this is written. Then the first event is past, and the second is present.
It makes sense.
