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The employer did not transfer all my wage this month because he miscounted. Which is correct?

$150 lacks in my wage.

or

I am missing $150 of my wage.

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  • 3
    First of all, the dollar sign goes before the dollar value in English.
    – Nihilist_Frost
    Dec 15, 2015 at 18:11
  • 2
    $150 is lacking from my wage.
    – user20792
    Dec 15, 2015 at 19:37
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    A hundred and fifty bucks is missing out of my paycheck and I'd better have it on Monday, you hear me you greedy old bastard?
    – Christopher Oicles
    Dec 15, 2015 at 22:06
  • In some countries, if you say 150 lacks people will think you're asking for 15 million dollars (one "lakh", which sounds like "lack", is ten thousand)
    – slebetman
    Dec 16, 2015 at 2:42

2 Answers 2

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The first one certainly isn't correct. If A lacks B, then A is missing B, not the other way around. The way your first option is phrased right now, the $150 lacks in your wage...which doesn't make much sense.

Even if we were to fix the ordering issue and make it, "My wage lacks $150," that sounds unnatural in English. It is technically correct, but doesn't sound great.

Your second option is much better:

I am missing $150 of my wages.

Note that the dollar sign goes BEFORE the numerical value. Even though we say "150 dollars," we write "$150."

Though for politeness' sake, I would go with a slightly wordier phrasing:

I think I may be missing $150 of my wages. I was supposed to get paid $___ this month, but only received $____ in my bank account.

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I would turn this around completely and say something like:

My wages are $150 short.

Or indirectly asking for an explanation:

My wages seem to be $150 short.

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  • Or you could say "My wages are short by $150.".
    – Joe
    Dec 16, 2015 at 2:05

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