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Thread: Needful

  1. #1
    muttalebm is offline Newbie
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    Default Needful

    Is the word "needful" correct?

    The sentence used is: Please do the needful
    Which one is more appropriated, "Please do as required", "Please do as needed", "Please do the necessary" or "Please do the needful".

    What i am looking for is requesting someone to take necessary steps

    Thanks in advance
    -muttalebm
    Odessa Dawn likes this.

  2. #2
    emsr2d2's Avatar
    emsr2d2 is offline Moderator
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    Default Re: Needful

    Quote Originally Posted by muttalebm View Post
    Is the word "needful" correct?

    The sentence used is: Please do the needful
    Which one is more appropriated, "Please do as required", "Please do as needed", "Please do the necessary" or "Please do the needful".

    What i am looking for is requesting someone to take necessary steps

    Thanks in advance
    -muttalebm
    We see "Please do the needful" on this forum quite regularly. It seems to be perfectly acceptable in some forms of English (Indian English, for example), but it does not work in British English (nor AmE, I think).

    I would use "Please take the necessary steps" or "Please take the necessary action".
    5jj, anhnha, Rover_KE and 1 others like this.
    Remember - correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing make posts much easier to read.

  3. #3
    SoothingDave is offline VIP Member
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    Default Re: Needful

    It's incorrect in AmE, too.
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  4. #4
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    Default Re: Needful

    It's very common and completely acceptable in Indian (South Asian) English.
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