I’m asking about usage of “refer” and “refer to”.
Can one say “refer to the letter”?
Is “refer the letter” enough?
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3 Answers
Refer to the letter basically means to check the letter for information. Refer the letter means send or forward the letter to someone.
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1One does not usually refer a thing to someone in English. I will send or pass the letter to x. I will refer this matter to x.– LambieCommented May 5, 2020 at 12:56
Refer can mean that someone is referring to something, usually for information (e.g. refer to a letter, refer to Wikipedia, refer to the manual etc) and it can also mean to send some person to someone else for further investigation. E.g. "I will refer my patient to a heart specialist", or "I'll refer you to an hand-writing expert to analyse the letter". However, I cannot think of a valid usage case for referring an object in this way e.g. "I will refer the letter to a hand-writing expert".
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1That's a perfectly good use case. "We will refer your inquiry to our Customer Service Department". Exactly the same construction, and quite common. Commented Jun 5, 2015 at 12:02
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1+1 This is correct: You refer a person to another person. You refer to something or to someone in a text or conversation. It is as simple as that.– LambieCommented May 5, 2020 at 12:56
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@Lambie Spot on - thanks. I hadn't realised that 'refer to <person or thing>' and 'refer <person> to <person or thing>' Commented May 5, 2020 at 13:05
"Refer to the letter" is an instruction asking someone to look to a specific letter for reference. You may also hear "I refer you to the letter". In this context, refer means "direct the attention of someone to".
"Refer the letter" is not a complete sentence, as it is missing a subject. You might say "refer the letter to your legal team". Here, "refer" means "send or direct someone to".
answered May 5, 2020 at 13:01
