0

Is it possible to tell these sentences to tell someone off in a nice way?

  1. My teacher brought to my attention because I was talking a lot in class.
  2. My teacher warned me for talking a lot in her class.
  3. Sam, I wanted to bring to your attention that you got to my class three times late.
  4. Kids! I should bring to your attention for making a mess in your room.
1
  • 1
    None of these sentences involve telling someone off. The first and last are bad grammar and have no meaning. The second sentence doesn't include "bring to someone's attention".
    – gotube
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 17:51

2 Answers 2

2

The expression is "Bring {something} to {someone's} attention". (or "Bring to {someone's} attention {something})"

It doesn't have anything specifically to do with telling off. It just means "ask someone to think consciously about something"

I'd like to bring this week's sales figures to your attention. We have doubled our takings and I think this is a result of the successful tv ads.

However when a teacher is bringing {something} to a child's attention, it is normally because the child is failing to do something.

Your first example is not correct, it does not contain "something" (but see below).

Your second example does not contain the phrase.

The third is correct. The teacher asks the child to think about the fact that they are late, and implicitly to change their behaviour so that they are not late.

The fourth is not correct.

There is also an expression "Bring someone to attention". This means (in a military context) "instruct them to stand up (with feet together looking forward) and listen to the officer"

Sergeant Major, bring the squad to attention and I shall inspect them.

So 1 and 4 seem to be a misuse of this sense.

4
  • If you make a complaint to a UK company, e.g. one of their delivery drivers was rude, in fact tell any organisation about something you feel they need to know about, good or bad, you will often get an answer ending 'we are grateful to you for bringing this matter to our attention'. It is usefully noncommittal. It admits nothing, and promises nothing. Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 19:13
  • I am not sure if the following sentence is correct. . The librarian brought to our attention that we were talking loudly in the library. or how would you say that?
    – Mariela
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 19:35
  • 1
    @Mariela that is grammatically correct but most people wouldn't use the phrase "brought to my attention" in their normal speech, it is jargon/officialese. You would say "the librarian warned us that we were talking loudly" or something else.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 20:03
  • 1
    I would say brought it to our attention. Commented Oct 8, 2022 at 7:56
0

The phrase bring to someone's attention can be used when scolding someone, but it doesn't always have this connotation. Most importantly, it cannot be substituted for words like scolded, chastised, criticized.

Of the four sentences you've provided, only number 3 uses bring to someone's attention idiomatically. Number 2 is passable, but doesn't include brought to my attention. Numbers 1 and 4 are incorrect.

In sentence 1, you're using brought to my attention to mean scolded. This is not a correct use of the phrase. If the teacher gently scolded you, you might describe this as "the teacher brought to my attention that I was talking". However, semantically and syntactically, you cannot put brought to me attention in that position in the sentence.

The verb bring requires an object. You cannot say, "I bring"; you must say, "I bring [something]". Likewise, in the more complicated phrase bring to my attention an object is still required for bring.

You've done this correctly in sentence 3, where "bring to my attention" has the object "[the fact] that you got to my class three times late". (Incidentally, "you got to my class three times late" is not idiomatic. It should be "you got to my class late three times").

Sentence 4 has the same issue as sentence 1 (it's missing an object for bring), but it's also just not a situation where we'd ever use this phrase. That is to say, no parent would ever say, "Kids, I wish to bring to your attention the fact that you've made a mess of your room." This sounds like a parody of an impossibly posh speaker. As you've correctly noted, bring to your attention is a polite phrase, and this kind of politeness is uncommon when speaking to children.

4
  • It is possible to rewrite sentence number 1 as: My teacher brought to my attention that I was talking a lot in class.
    – Mariela
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 18:31
  • 1
    @Mariela, yes, that's what I meant to write. I had a typo, which originally read, "the teacher brought to me attention that I was talking," but I've now corrected that.
    – Juhasz
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 19:09
  • I am not sure if the following sentence is correct. . The librarian brought to our attention that we were talking loudly in the library. or how would you say that?
    – Mariela
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 19:36
  • 2
    @Mariela -in ordinary speech, 'bring to your attention' is unnaturally pompous, formal, uses too many words, etc. What would be natural is: 'The librarian told us that we were talking loudly'. No need to say 'in the library'; we know that's where librarians work. Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 20:11

You must log in to answer this question.

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