"Thank you in advance" - how to replace?

Question

When writing emails, I often ended it with "thank you in advance". Even more, I used to have it in my signature for a certain time (mea culpa).
However, recently I've been told that it is not appropriate or even rude.

I checked on the Web and found some links (1), (2) that confirm this point.

There's also a discussion at ELU on this matter.

Instead of "thank you in advance", they usually suggest something like "I appreciate any help that you can provide" or "I will be grateful if you can..."

OTOH, in my native language there are two distinct types of appreciation: appreciation "after" is merely like English "thank you", but appreciation "before" can be translated something like "let the divine providence be with you" or "...give you power (to do what I'm asking)", or, simply speaking (not very accurate, though), "bless you (to do what I'm asking)".

I'm trying to combine both things, i.e. avoid using "thank you in advance" and preserve the meaning of above. Is it possible?

Thank you in advance! :-)

Answer 1

It might be better to just say, "Thank you." and omit "in advance." I think this implies that you are grateful that they took their time to consider your request. It would probably be a good idea to thank them again afterward, this time for whatever work they did to help you.

Unfortunately, some people (many of whom are very outspoken) will be offended by almost anything.

Usually, the best practice is to use the conventions that are generally accepted among whichever group of people you are communicating with.

Answer 2

I would have no problem with "thanks in advance" at the end of an email sent to me. I would interpret that remark to mean that the person is thankful for whatever assistance I'm able to provide.

That said, I can understand why some might find this phrasing off-putting. If you think about it long enough, you can find all sorts of presumptuous or impolite overtones:

I already know you're going to fulfill my request, so I'll just thank you now.

I'm too lazy to write a follow-on note of thanks, so I'll just roll my request and my thanks into one message.

I wouldn't think you have anything better to do with your time than help me, so thanks for helping me.

However, I would be shocked to learn that anyone who wrote "Thanks in advance" at the end of an email really meant any of those things. That would be more a case of me reading too much into a commonly-used expression, I think, rather than a sender trying to be anything but polite.

That said, to answer your request for an alternative phrasing that won't be misconstrued, I think you can always go with something simple and plain:

Thank you,

That's succint but polite; it can mean as little as "Thank you for reading this," or as much as "Thanks for whatever support you are able to provide."

Many websites suggest closing a formal business letter with more specific words of thanks, followed by a more formal closing. In other words, you might see something like this:

Thank you very much for your time and assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

or:

Thank you for considering these suggestions.

Faithfully yours,

This depends very much on context, of course, but I find such formats a bit overly formal for some – though not necessarily all – email correspondence, which is why a simple "Thank you," can work nicely.

I guess I haven't added much more than ctype.h has suggested, although I think it's worth pointing out that a simply "Thank you," by itself is flexible enough to cover both of the meanings you are trying to preserve. If "Thank you," seems to common and trite, though, Wikipedia offers this alternative in one of its samples:

With thanks,

Answer 3

There's a huge US/UK usage split. Here's the American corpus in NGrams...

...and here's the British corpus...

I must admit that before seeing that usage chart, I simply assumed that the reason I see the in advance version so often these days is because many people who rarely write actual letters often sign off emails like this. The reality, or course, is that because of the Internet, I now see much more of what Americans write.

It might therefore be wise to take account of which side of the pond your addressee lives - you'll always be understood, but why deliberately use a version that you (now! :) know might seem at least slightly "unusual"?

It's also perhaps worth mentioning that sometimes, the addressee might be irritated by being thanked for some favour that he might feasibly decide not to grant. And if you made him pause slightly over your anticipation / advance choice, that might be enough to make him think for longer, and deny your request instead of simply "rubber-stamping" it.

Answer 4

I usually say something like,

"Impending 'you're welcome'... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it,"

or,

"Wow, even before you've received my bill? Outstanding! Could I trouble you for a Yelp review now, then?"