Is "Please be reminded to ..." a valid construction?

Question

I received an email today with the following sentence:

Please be reminded to bring your basketball gear in.

He was subsequently made fun of by a co-worker:

'Please be reminded' - Will you be doing the reminding, or should I expect somebody else to be reminding me?

I am wondering if:

the original sentence is valid and unambiguous, or if
the interpretation made by his co-worker is valid due to ambiguity in the semantic meaning of the original sentence.

it is similar to the construct 'please be advised', however if you compare the frequencies of the two phrases the 'please be reminded' is a few orders of magnitude less frequent (see comparison). — Unreason, Nov 08 '11 at 11:35
Actually, the comparison is even more stark when you use correct capitalisation. — Bringer128, Feb 07 '12 at 07:03

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 08 '11 at 06:12

6

I agree with your coworker: the phrasing is slightly pretentious and obviously imprecise. I would prefer "I would like to remind you to...", which moves it from the passive voice to the active, or simply "please bring your basketball gear with you."

answered Nov 08 '11 at 06:12

Codie CodeMonkey

1,177

2

Our simply "Remember to...". The l passive original really jars with the supposed informal relationship you have with a basketball playing colleague. – Hugo Nov 08 '11 at 06:24
Yes -- it sounds like airline-speak: "At this time we will be asking you to please return your seat to the upright position ..." – David Aldridge Apr 30 '13 at 20:39

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '13 at 01:32

4

This is a standard formal construction used in academic conferences and elsewhere. The extreme formality is intended to remove responsibility for the act of "reminding" from the Master of Ceremonies, who presumably is of far lower status than the speakers, moderators, or participants in the conference.

answered Apr 30 '13 at 01:32

John P. Ring

41
1

Good catch on that one! – tchrist Apr 30 '13 at 02:27

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 08 '11 at 08:20

3

The sentence is grammatical: a passive construction does not necessarily need an agent. That said, as others have commented, it’s probably not the most effective way of putting it.

answered Nov 08 '11 at 08:20

Barrie England

140,205

Thanks Barrie. Do you have an opinion on whether the sentence is ambiguous? – Bringer128 Nov 08 '11 at 09:30
No, I don't think it's ambiguous. If I read it, I would take it as a reminder to bring my basketball gear in. – Barrie England Nov 08 '11 at 09:50

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 04 '21 at 00:15

0

'Please be reminded...' can be used and (and certainly not with it coming across as 'pretentious') if the email was worded: "Please be reminded that you are (you're) to bring in your basketball gear...".

answered Feb 04 '21 at 00:15

cee

1

Can you provide some quality examples of recent use (say the last 50 years), or examples where this is recommended by a style guide? Otherwise, your answer reads more like an opinion. Opinions other than from experts are usually removed. The entire construction sounds very stilted and old-fashioned to me, like something from a bureaucrat in British Colonial India (such as my grandfather). – Phil Sweet Feb 04 '21 at 01:21

Is "Please be reminded to ..." a valid construction?

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