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My team is looking for a supervisor for our research project and we are currently in contact with one lecturer who asked us for a meeting today to confirm things. Problem is another lecturer contacted us and asked for a meeting today.

I want to reply back saying we already have a meeting arranged today. What is the correct way to say it? Another meeting is already arranged "for today", "on today" or just "today"?

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    "We are all scheduled today" or "Today is booked." It is clumsy, and not diplomatic, to refer to your other candidates. That's your own business, and you have the right to be discreet.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Jan 22, 2021 at 6:16
  • While I agree that you should probably not explain why you cannot meet today "for today" would be correct if you did want to.
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 22, 2021 at 8:19
  • "for today" is less ambiguous: "we arranged a meeting today" could mean "we arranged a meeting today for a future date". But it's a bit pedantic (or neurotic) to be worried about that sort of thing. "We already have a meeting today" is another way of saying you're booked up.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jan 22, 2021 at 10:32
  • Preposition deletion is a complex area. Looking solely at grammaticality (ie ignoring the pragmatics of what sounds most hearer-friendly) 'A meeting is already arranged/scheduled for today' is impeccable while 'A meeting is already arranged/scheduled today' sound a lot less idiomatic than say 'A meeting is already taking place today'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jan 22, 2021 at 14:52
  • In, say, The meeting room is booked [for] today, it doesn't seem to make any difference to the meaning whether we include the preposition or not. But if your boss says You are not paid [for] today, there's no doubt that makes a difference (or at least could make a difference).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 22, 2021 at 15:20

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