Learn Business English: Check, Confirm or Clarify?

They are check, confirm, and clarify.

Check, confirm, and clarify.

Now, these are not difficult words.

I'm sure you know all three of them, but many students use them in exactly the same way, and they don't always mean exactly the same thing.

So I'm going to explain the difference, give you the grammar patterns, and then give you some real work situations where you can use them.

Okay, so let's start with check.

When we check something, we look at it, examine it, or find out whether it is correct.

Perhaps we're not 100% sure, so we check.

We look again.

We ask somebody.

We open the document.

We look at the diary.

We look at the figures, whatever it happens to be.

So your manager asks you, "Can you send me the final report today?" And you say, "Let me check where we are with it." Let me check where we are with it.

You're not saying yes and you're not saying no. You're saying, "Give me a moment.

I need to look at the situation first." Or somebody asks, "Is Maria joining the call this afternoon?" And you say, "I'm not sure.

I'll check her calendar." I'll check her calendar.

So you look at the calendar and then you can give the answer.

We can check something directly.

Check the figures before you send the spreadsheet.

Could you check the client's address? I need to check the latest version of the document.

So check plus a noun, check the figures, check the address, check the document.

We can also check that something is correct.

Could you check that the dates are correct? Please check that everybody has received the invitation.

I'll check that the payment has gone through.