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I want to use this phrase in an email to my previous supervisor to let her know that I will send her my essay in the near future.

Does the phrase "in the upcoming days" sound normal to a native English speaker and also convey the intended message?

tmgr
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Salman Alsharif
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    It may depend where you are. "Upcoming" sounds American to me. In Britain it would be quite sufficient to say "In the coming days..." – WS2 May 02 '18 at 18:18
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    I would agree with @WS2 that "in the coming days" is more natural in Br English. However "the coming days" can be a very extended period. I would would say "in the coming few days" or, more colloquially "in the next few days". – BoldBen May 02 '18 at 18:41
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    *in the near future* is idiomatic. in a few days is also idiomatic, as is in the next few days; but both the last two are ambiguous and can be interpreted to mean 3 days or 30 days; because few does not say much, and in a communication such as this, it can be used to be ambiguous on purpose: "some more or less short period of time. So, I would either use in the near future, which is less ambiguous, or I would be explicit and state how many days, even if it's an approximation, as within the next X days. or within the next X weeks*. Otherwise, you are not saying much. – Arm the good guys in America May 02 '18 at 19:53

3 Answers3

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"In the upcoming days" sounds fine to me as a AmE speaker, but there a lot better ways to say it. E.g. in british english "in the coming (few) days" is more natural.

One idiomatic phrase is "in the near future" or "in a few days" or the "next few days".

DialFrost
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In Australian English, "in the upcoming days" sounds strange. "In the coming days" is acceptable but probably too formal, I agree with @BoldBen's comment that "In the next few days" is a better choice. "In the next couple of days" also works, and arguably implies a slightly shorter time frame (the next few days could be 1-4 days, whereas the next couple of days probably means 2-3 days)

Bug Catcher Nakata
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It sounds accurate but as a threat rather than a promise. I'd soften the phrase a bit by stating it as "I will provide my answer to you Shortly. That would take the curse off your earlier statement.

Elliot
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