AdminTalk
Short lessons: embassy work
16 short episodes. Watch in order or choose a topic.
Episode 15 · 0:55
Checking availability is not booking
If you change it to Please book Room A, the requested task changes. The key is not just adding polite words, but asking for the action you actually intend.
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Try improving this request: Please take action regarding the meeting room. Should the recipient check availability or make a booking?
In this fictional exercise, we only need to know whether Room A is available on 20 November 2026, from ten to eleven a.m., Bangkok time. We are not requesting a booking.
Write: Please let us know by email whether Room A is available on that date and at those times, so that we can prepare the meeting programme.
The exercise specifies a reply by three p.m. Bangkok time on 18 November. Include that deadline and make clear that this is not yet a booking request.
If you change it to Please book Room A, the requested task changes. The key is not just adding polite words, but asking for the action you actually intend.
Try before revealing the answer
Try improving this request: Please take action regarding the meeting room. Should the recipient check availability or make a booking?
Show suggested answer
In this fictional exercise, we only need to know whether Room A is available on 20 November 2026, from ten to eleven a.m., Bangkok time. We are not requesting a booking. Write: Please let us know by email whether Room A is available on that date and at those times, so that we can prepare the meeting programme. The exercise specifies a reply by three p.m. Bangkok time on 18 November. Include that deadline and make clear that this is not yet a booking request. If you change it to Please book Room A, the requested task changes. The key is not just adding polite words, but asking for the action you actually intend.
Sources and scope
A fictional email exercise, not a note verbale. Dates and times are supplied by the exercise, not a real booking. Room use is 20 November 2026, 10:00–11:00; the reply deadline is 18 November 2026, 15:00. All times are Bangkok time.
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