Vetting an Office Memorandum Before Circulation
The Sub-Treasury Officer has asked you to vet a draft office memorandum before it is circulated to all sections. The draft contains these sentences: (1) 'All the officials is hereby informed that the last date for filing property returns have been extended to 30 September.' (2) 'Neither the cashier nor the clerks was present at the time of the surprise verification, and each of them have since submitted a leave application.' (3) 'The office will remain closed on account of the fact that the local body election is being held on that day.' (4) 'You are requested to kindly do the needful and revert back at the earliest.' (5) 'The audit party, along with the seized records, were shifted to the second floor.' The officer also wants a one-line subject line, and asks whether the memorandum may use contractions such as 'won't' and the first person 'I'.
1. Correct sentences (1), (2) and (5), and state the grammar rule that governs each correction.
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(1) 'All the officials are hereby informed that the last date for filing property returns has been extended to 30 September.'
Two separate agreements are at work. The subject of the main clause is 'All the officials', which is plural, so 'are'. The subject of the reported clause is 'the last date', singular, so 'has' - the intervening plural 'returns' does not control the verb.
(2) 'Neither the cashier nor the clerks were present at the time of the surprise verification, and each of them has since submitted a leave application.'
With 'neither ... nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject; here that is 'clerks', so 'were'. 'Each' is grammatically singular even when followed by 'of them', so 'has'.
(5) 'The audit party, along with the seized records, was shifted to the second floor.'
'Along with the seized records' is a parenthetical addition, not part of the subject. The subject is 'The audit party', singular, so 'was'. Words such as 'along with', 'as well as' and 'together with' do not make a singular subject plural; only 'and' does.
2. Rewrite (3) and (4) in the concise register of a government memorandum, and name the fault in each original.
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(3) Original: 'The office will remain closed on account of the fact that the local body election is being held on that day.' Rewrite: 'The office will remain closed on 10 October 2024 because the local body election is being held that day.'
Fault: wordy periphrasis. 'On account of the fact that' is a five-word substitute for 'because'. A memorandum should also state the date rather than 'that day', because a circular is read out of context and 'that day' becomes ambiguous once the file moves.
(4) Original: 'You are requested to kindly do the needful and revert back at the earliest.' Rewrite: 'All concerned are requested to reply by 5 p.m. on 8 October 2024.'
Faults, in order of seriousness:
- 'Revert back' - 'revert' already means to go back, so 'back' is redundant; worse, Indian officialese uses 'revert' to mean 'reply', which is not its standard meaning. Use 'reply' or 'respond'.
- 'Do the needful' - a vague cliché that does not say what is required; an office order must be actionable.
- 'At the earliest' - unenforceable; an order needs a date and time.
- 'Kindly' with 'requested' - double politeness that dilutes the instruction.
Test to apply: could a new incumbent reading this file six months later act on the sentence without asking anyone?
3. Advise the officer on register: may the memorandum use contractions and the first person 'I'? Give the acceptable alternative constructions.
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No on both counts, in a memorandum meant for record.
- No contractions. 'Won't', 'don't' and 'can't' belong to speech and informal writing. In a document that may be produced before an audit or a court, write 'will not', 'do not', 'cannot'. The contraction also shifts tone from instruction to conversation.
- No first person singular. A memorandum binds the office, not the individual officer; 'I have decided' invites the question of who authorised it. Use the impersonal passive or the third person: 'It is informed that ...', 'All officials are requested to ...', 'The competent authority has directed that ...'.
- Keep it impersonal but not servile. Avoid 'your good self', 'kindly do the needful' and stacked honorifics; use one consistent form of address, 'All concerned' or 'All section heads'.
- Subject line: one line, key words first, ending with 'reg.', for example: 'Extension of last date for filing property returns - reg.' A reader should know from the subject line whether the paper concerns him.
The governing principle: an office memorandum is a record, so precision and traceability of authority outrank politeness formulas.