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I want to write an email to a professor in English, but I'm stuck at some sentences.

Could you please help me to write it correctly?

  • Hope you are doing well and the meeting with your doctor goes well!

  • Could you recall me the name of topic of other group?

  • Could you also give me some name of other topic that not took it yet by student to choice one of them

Neeku
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Educ
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    Here you go - though this is really off-topic for this site:(1) I hope you are doing well and the meeting (appointment?) with your doctor goes well! (2) Would you please remind me of the other group's topic name? (3) Can you please give me some of the topics not yet chosen by the other students? Best of luck! :-) – Kristina Lopez Nov 11 '14 at 20:29
  • This question appears to be off-topic because it is about proofreading and correcting writing. – Kristina Lopez Nov 11 '14 at 20:30
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    @KristinaLopez, Educ is likely posting these specific sections of the email because MS Word or some other word processor is likely throwing errors or suggestions. Since these are specific sentences in that email, it means that s/he does not understand why. In this way, it is a legitimate question so long as the provided answers explain what is wrong or sounds off with each example. – kayleeFrye_onDeck Nov 11 '14 at 21:00
  • @kayleeFrye_onDeck, without a specific question regarding the examples, which in that case, would be on-topic, this is a request for proofreading, which is off-topic for this site. The OP says his/herself "I'm stuck on these sentences" - that is not an English Language Usage question, per se. – Kristina Lopez Nov 11 '14 at 21:40

1 Answers1

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Example 1: Hope you are doing well and the meeting with your doctor goes well!
Changed to: I hope you are doing well, and that the appointment with your doctor goes well too!

You need to identify yourself in this sentence as I. Also, an Oxford comma breaks up sentence flow better, and the too at the end implies that you would like both of these to happen. Also, if you are going to see a doctor, it's usually called an appointment, or doctor's appointment (thanks, itsraghz)

Example 2: Could you recall me the name of topic of other group?
Changed to: Can you recall the topic names of the other groups? OR if there is only one group and not multiple groups, Can you recall the topic name of the other group?

You can swap Can for Could at the start of both sentences. Could is more formal, but also more literal, in that the ability to recall is being stressed by the sentence, whereas Can, which means basically the same thing, is often used as a simple inquiry or request and only occasionally stresses the ability to do something.

Example 3: Could you also give me some name of other topic that not took it yet by student to choice one of them
Changed to: Could you also give me some names of other topics not taken yet by students so I can choose one of them?

In this sentence, you've missed the plural form of name(s), topic(s), and student(s). I also changed to for so I can as to give a coherent explanation for the request. Also, don't forget the question mark at the end!

I hope that clears up most of your syntactical questions, regarding this email. Please remember plural forms of words! They are very important. If it's more than one, there's usually an s at the end of the word to indicate that it is plural.

kayleeFrye_onDeck
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    You're welcome. Don't forget to make use of plural forms of words! English heavily relies on them for reading comprehension. – kayleeFrye_onDeck Nov 11 '14 at 20:56
  • @ like what could you name them please – Educ Nov 11 '14 at 21:00
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    "Can" and "could" are actually asking if the person is capable of giving the information - the OP is requesting the information and should be using "would". Think about the when you were a kid and you asked "Can I watch TV?" and your parent would say "I don't know... can you?" Then you'd have to change it to "May I...". :-) – Kristina Lopez Nov 11 '14 at 21:43
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    Actually, that's not entirely true, @KristinaLopez. That assumes that the professor has that information available, which the professor may not. If the OP knew that the professor had the information available, then "would" is an acceptable replacement. – kayleeFrye_onDeck Nov 11 '14 at 22:08
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    mmm, sorry, I don't agree that the OP's asking whether or not the professor has the information. He/she's asking for the information. I think we'll probably just have to agree to disagree on that point. :-) – Kristina Lopez Nov 11 '14 at 22:27
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    We can agree to disagree, however, the request to "recall" (in example two) is where the word usage seems suspect to me about the OP's intent. A request of recollection either questions the ability to recall, or is a highly formal and polite way to ask for said information. The OP would have to clear this up. However, I do agree that "would" is the proper word for a request. – kayleeFrye_onDeck Nov 11 '14 at 22:30
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    I think @kayleeFrye_onDeck has explained it very well. However, would not it be more appropriate if we replace the word 'meeting' with 'appointment' with the Doctor? – itsraghz Nov 11 '14 at 23:26
  • @itsraghz, you are correct. Let me edit that. – kayleeFrye_onDeck Nov 12 '14 at 15:10