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In the beginning of a formal letter, which one of the followings is the correct form?

Allow introducing myself.

Or

Allow me to introduce myself.

I have a feeling that the latter is better, but I'm not sure why.

In both case they are good sentences, then which is best?

Barmar
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Patrick
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    The first is incorrect. The second is a line from the Rolling Stones. – Elliott Frisch Jan 21 '16 at 00:20
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    In a formal letter, I would just go ahead and do the introducing part and skip the part where you ask for permission to do what you're already going to do anyway. Just say, "My name is Martin," not, "I hope you don't mind of I tell you my name is Martin." – DoWhileNot Jan 21 '16 at 00:24
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    "Allow me to introduce myself" is an idiom. Whether it's appropriate in your situation I can't say. "Allow introducing myself" will sound strange regardless. – Hot Licks Jan 21 '16 at 01:24
  • What DoWhileNot said, except say "My name is Martin Lastname" not just "Martin". – ab2 Jan 21 '16 at 02:12
  • @ab2 No, he's gotta guess his name. ;-) – Jim Jan 21 '16 at 03:13

1 Answers1

2

"Allow introducing myself" doesn't make any sense in natural English, so your feeling that the second example is better is correct:

"Please allow me to introduce myself."

Mark Hubbard
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