1

Suppose, I have a parent-teacher conference today. So I did most of today's work yesterday to leave my office early today without affecting the project that my team is working on.

In this context, is it clear and natural to say this to my boss?

I'll get out of work today early for my son's parent-teacher conference, my work will be done before that.

Are there any other expressions cleared and more natural could be used for this situation?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

If this is speech, not in writing, I would only be concerned about how the beginning sounds like you are telling or informing your boss of what you are doing, and not asking.

My initial assumption is that the boss has some measure of control and the proper social thing to do is to ask if you may have permission to take off early, due to the listed reasons, even if you pretty much know they will say "yes." If that is the case, I would re-word, especially the start, into something more like:

I would like to leave work today early for my son's parent-teacher conference, if that is OK. I will make sure my work is done before I leave.

or, as a question

Would it be a problem if I left work early today for my son's parent-teacher conference? I will make sure my work is done before I leave.

NOTE: The changes I made to the second sentence are not any more correct. Either works. My suggestion only adds a little to the impression of more personal control over the work.

However, it is also possible that your workplace allows its workers to be more independent (as mine does) and perhaps you only really need to inform them that you will be out early. In that case, I would add very little, while still giving the boss an option to give a good reason to stop you:

I am planning on leaving work today early for my son's parent-teacher conference. My work will be done before that.

And, finally, from my beginning here I stated, "If this is speech ..." because -- as you have probably already noticed -- in writing, I would make these completely separate sentences to represent separate thoughts: addressing the timing and, separately, the work. Technically, you could also separate them with a semi-colon (;) if you really wanted to, but a period would do the job in a more common and simple manner.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thank you. Your answer is very helpful. "The changes I made to the second sentence are not any more correct", does it mean the 2nd example in the answer, "Would it be a problem ..." might not be grammatically correct?
    – JJJohn
    Jun 30, 2020 at 11:54
  • I believe my "Would it be a problem ..." is grammatically correct, though I'm only relying on my experience as a native speaker to determine that. It is certainly correct-sounding in normal Am.English speech. I see my "not any more correct" clause may be confusing. Expressing that thought in another way, I would restate that to "The changes I made to the second sentence are not any more OR LESS correct than what you originally wrote." This is possibly too long of a way to express that, "your version and my version of the 2nd sentence are both correct." I hope that clarifies correctly.
    – wiigame
    Jul 2, 2020 at 19:30

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .