Learn Business English: Check, Confirm or Clarify?

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Do you know whether to check, confirm or clarify a deadline, decision or instruction? Many English learners understand these three verbs but hesitate when they need to use them in a work email, meeting or call.

By the end of this business English lesson, you’ll know how to check information, confirm decisions and clarify instructions without sounding vague. You’ll also learn the correct grammar patterns and common mistakes to avoid. Use this episode to improve your business English vocabulary, learn English for work and communicate more clearly in professional emails, meetings and calls.

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:09

Hi there. This is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language, to help you with your conversational skills, your business, English skills, your interview skills, whatever your goals happen to be, we're here to help. So in this particular lesson, common verbs that you will hear They are check, confirm and clarify, check, confirm and clarify. Now, these are not difficult 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 patterns and then give you some can use them. Okay, so let's start with check. When we check something, we look whether it is correct. Perhaps we're not one hundred So we check. We look again. We ask somebody, we open the 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 Let me check where we are with You're not saying yes and you're give me a moment. I need to look at the situation Or somebody asks, is Maria And you say, I'm not sure. I'll check her calendar. I'll check her calendar. So you look at the calendar and We can check something directly. Check the figures before you Could you check the client's I need to check the latest check plus a noun. Check the figures. Check the address. Check the document. We can also check that something Could you check that the dates Please check that everybody has I'll check that the payment has check with the person. This means we ask that person because they have the information. Or perhaps we need their I'll check with my manager and Can you check with finance Let me check with the client Now this is a very useful expression at work to check with somebody. You don't need to give an answer You can say let me check with the team or let me check with my manager or let me check with the client. And then you get the information and you come back with the answer. We also use double check. Double check means check again, is important or because a I just want to double check the Could you double check the account number before you make the payment? Let me double check that I've So check is the action of At the moment you check. You may not know the answer. That is the important point. You check because you need to Okay. That is check. Now let's look at confirm. When we confirm something, we say that it is definite, correct or agreed. Usually the checking has already We now give the final answer or that final answer. So, for example, you look at the team, you check the dates. Then you say, I can confirm that the report will be ready on Friday. I can confirm that the report The checking happened first. The confirmation comes Here is another simple example. A colleague asks, are we still You look at your diary and say, meeting is at ten. So you have now given a definite And for those of you who use together a short quiz called It has eight common meeting what you're already doing well little more help. You can take the quiz at use the link in the description As with check, we can confirm Please confirm the delivery Could you confirm your I'm writing to confirm our We can confirm that something is I can confirm that we have Can you confirm that the client We would like to confirm that Monday, and we can confirm or will happen. Could you confirm whether the Please confirm whether you need Can you confirm whether the Now be careful with one common We do not normally say confirm Confirm me. The date is not correct. Natural English. You can say confirm the date. Or could you confirm the date? Or could you confirm the date with me but not confirm me the date? And again, we don't say I confirm you that the meeting is cancelled. We say I can confirm that the So confirm that not confirm you There is also a very useful confirm in emails. If you say I'll check the deadline, it means you don't know yet and you're going to find out. But if you say I can confirm the deadline is Friday, it means you now know and Friday is the definite date. So if your boss asks, can we You might say, I need to check Then perhaps an hour later, you send a message and say, I can't confirm that we can deliver it by Thursday. Check comes first. Confirm afterwards. The difference is quite simple when you see the two steps When we clarify something, we make it clearer. The information may be there, Perhaps the instruction is Perhaps two people understood it Perhaps you know the general But one part is confusing. So you ask somebody to clarify For example, your manager says, Well, what does soon mean this Tomorrow morning? By the end of the week, you need So you might say could you clarify when you need the report? Could you clarify when you need Or your manager says please make for the client. Again, this is not very clear The length, the language. The examples, the design. So you say, could you clarify what you would like me to change? Now the other person has to explain the request in more detail. We can clarify a point, an issue, a question, a responsibility, or a requirement. I'd like to clarify one point Could you clarify the client's We need to clarify who is responsible for the final approval. Let me clarify what I meant. The last example is useful when Let me clarify what I meant. You're not necessarily You're explaining your meaning For example, you say, I don't think we should launch next week. Your colleague thinks you want that is not what you meant. So you say. Let me clarify what I meant. I'm not suggesting that we I'm suggesting that we delay it finish the testing. So you make the meaning clearer. You clarify it. Now, another common mistake is to say, I want to clarify about the deadline. We normally don't need about You can say I want to clarify the deadline or I want to ask about the deadline, but not I want to clarify about the deadline. And we also don't normally say, please clarify me again, clarify the point or clarify something for me. Could you clarify the final Could you clarify what you mean? Could you clarify who will So check, confirm and clarify. Check means you need to find Confirm means you give or ask Clarify means you make the Now you'll sometimes hear these For example, I'll check the cost this afternoon. That is perfectly good English because these are two different actions. First, I'll examine the figures. Then, when I know the answer, You can also hear, check and I need to check the contract and clarify one point with the legal team. Again, two actions. You check the document and then explain one point more clearly. So these words work together, but don't use all three simply because you want to sound more professional. Keep it simple. Choose the word that matches If you need to find out, use. Check. If you need a definite answer or Confirm. If you need clearer meaning, use Okay, let's now look at a few word fits best. The first situation you receive of the totals may be wrong. What do you do? You check the figures. You check the figures because you need to look at them and find out whether they are correct. After checking, you discover Your manager asks you, is the You say? Yes, I can confirm that the So first you check it, then you The second situation, somebody tells you that the deadline has changed, but they don't say whether the new deadline is for the first draft or the final document. So what do you need to do? You need to clarify which Could you clarify whether Friday draft or the final version? You're not checking a calendar You're asking them to make the And this is the third situation. A client asks you to attend a don't know whether you're free. So you say, let me check my When you look at the diary and see that you are free, you write back and say, I can confirm that I'll attend the meeting on Tuesday. Again, check first, confirm Another situation your manager says I'd like you to take care of the client update, but there are two client updates, one as a short email and the other as a full presentation. So you ask, could you clarify which update you would like me to prepare? You use clarify because the The last fifth situation, you're discussed several different You want one final definite So you ask, can we confirm the Can we confirm the final You want the group to agree that Okay, let's have a very quick colleague asks, is the client You don't know. So you look at the calendar. Which verb do you use? Well done. It is the verb check. I'll check the calendar. Now you've looked at the definitely a three. Which verb do you use this time? Good job. It is indeed the verb confirm. I can confirm that the call is Here is another one for you. Your manager tells you to don't know what needs to change. Which verb is the most natural Clarify is the correct verb to Could you clarify what you would Okay, so there you have it. There are three very common words, but with three very different jobs. Check means look, ask or examine something is correct. Confirm means say that something And clarify means make something remember the useful patterns. Check the figures. Check that the dates are Check with your manager. Confirm the meeting. Confirm that the payment Confirm whether the client has Clarify the point. Clarify what you mean. Clarify who is responsible. Okay, so try them. See? Do you understand them? Come back to me if you don't. www.englishlessonviaskype.com I'm really, really happy to help And thanks for listening and