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In office email communication, people constantly write "See the below attachment". However, I have a problem with this because I feel as though the word below should be placed after 'attachment' not before it, so as not to suggest it being a verb (e.g. See the blue attachment). Instead, I think, "See the attachment below," is much more accurate.

Can anyone provide the grammatical rules to indicate which is correct?

tchrist
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user2544542
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  • A lot of people don't care for this usage of below to mean following. A lot of other people use it. Not much you can do about any of that. You can, however, use whatever pleases you. – tchrist Mar 01 '15 at 05:48
  • @tchrist I don't think one "can, however, use whatever" in all cases, no matter what. – Kris Mar 01 '15 at 06:10
  • See the below attachment ... is this in India, by any chance? Or maybe Singapore? – GEdgar Mar 01 '15 at 14:28
  • @GEdgar: No, it's in Georgia (USA), however, I've noticed Indians do tend to say it that way. – user2544542 Mar 01 '15 at 14:42
  • It could be said : See the enclosed attachment. – Eilia May 15 '15 at 13:26

2 Answers2

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The attachment is not "below" anything. There might be an icon embedded in the message that invokes (opens) the attached file. But the file is simply "attached"; it is not part of the message.

If there are two or more files attached, you can refer to them as the "first", "second", etc attachments.

Brian Hitchcock
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  • But at the bottom of an email the attachments are clearly visible, in the sense they are below/under the message. I have a gmail address, and I can see what kind of attachments they are without opening them. – Mari-Lou A Mar 01 '15 at 14:29
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    It could easily be 'reference' or 'paragraph' instead of 'attachment,' if that helps. If one were to use a preposition in this scenario, which is most grammatically correct? – user2544542 Mar 01 '15 at 14:46
  • @Mari-Lou A: It depends not only on which email client you use, but on which email client the sender uses. Some clients show an attachments line below the Subject line, but ABOVE the message. – Brian Hitchcock Mar 01 '15 at 14:54
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    "below" is not a preposition in either sentence. It is either an adjective ("the below paragraph") or an adverb ("see the paragraph, below"). As to which is better? There's really not an iota of difference. Don't worry about it. However, if you wanted to clarify that it was the very next paragraph, you would say "the paragraph immediately below", not "the immediately below paragraph" – Brian Hitchcock Mar 01 '15 at 15:00
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Adjectival vs adverbial/participial use, which may or may not project the same intent.

  • Schrodinger, see the inside cat.
    vs
    Schrodinger, see the cat inside.

  • Watch the jumping cat.
    vs
    Watch the cat jumping.

  • Speak to the man upstairs.
    Speak to the upstairs man.

Adjectival vs adverbial use, which incidentally project the same intention.

  • adv'l: See the icon below. (below describes the action/verb see)
  • adj'l: See the below icon. (below describes the noun icon)
Blessed Geek
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  • Thanks for putting terms to these. Though the intention of the author or even the phrase might be the same, I don't know that it constitutes correct grammar on both counts. Broken up, the adverbial makes sense throughout: See the, the icon, icon below. However the adjectival, apart from the initial 'See the,' doesn't seem to sound right, at least to me: See the, the below, below icon. 'The below' doesn't sound natural and 'below icon' doesn't sound correct unless preceded with an indefinite article like 'the.' It's different from 'above' which I feel can be used that way (above ground) – user2544542 Mar 01 '15 at 14:55
  • "correct grammar" ? As I have often said, I have not been trained to use the phrases such as in "Is this correct grammar", or "Is this grammatical", because even pidgin English is "grammatical" and "correct" in its own grammatical conventions. The proper terms are "proper", "acceptable" or "normal" grammar/structure. – Blessed Geek Mar 01 '15 at 18:10
  • In post-1980 English, the lesser we use commas the better. Commas and hyphens are for clarity. Therefore, could you provide proof and explanation why "Feed the cat upstairs" and "Feed the upstairs cat" are not "normal/acceptable/proper" English structure. – Blessed Geek Mar 01 '15 at 18:16
  • "Correct grammar" to me implies grammar that is most widely accepted within that language's subsystem. This would obviously be different if comparing "formal" English and pidgin English even though they are both English, however, that isn't the point here. – user2544542 Mar 01 '15 at 20:33
  • I don't see a need for commas in either case as I don't think it matters. (Something might be needed if one were distinguishing between the cat currently being fed but then needing to feed it elsewhere (upstairs) and an initial act of feeding the cat already upstairs.) The syntax or positioning of words, however, is practically how a language is built, which means that the same words don't always carry the same meaning when re-arranged. "You go out," and "You out go," don't quite agree. "Out you go," or even "Go you/ye out," would all make more sense than "You out go." – user2544542 Mar 01 '15 at 20:46
  • You still need to explain and provide proof why "Feed the cat upstairs" and "Feed the upstairs cat" are not "normal/acceptable/proper" English structure. – Blessed Geek Mar 01 '15 at 23:13
  • "... both English, however, that isn't the point here ...". Normally, we put a full-stop before however. e.g., "The boy is smart. However, he is inexperienced." However is a way of saying but in the next sentence. – Blessed Geek Mar 02 '15 at 02:35