The information sent in the aforementioned e-mail is not to be used for publication.

[99bottles]

I have been studying the use of the word aforementioned, and I'm confused. In what cases do I use that word in place of this or that? For example, in the sentence below (Cambridge Dictionary):

The information sent in the aforementioned e-mail is not to be used for publication.

Why did they say in the aforementioned e-mail? Why not just say that email?

 

[Jemima23]

Not a teacher.

It is very formal and mostly used in legal writing. However, I found this quote from Bryan Garner, the expert on legal style: "Aforesaid; aforementioned: These LEGALISMS have little or no justification in modern writing." Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, p.37
Here's NZ government's official website referring to the word "aforementioned" as archaic and advising to avoid it when drafting a legal document: http://www.pco.govt.nz/8.10

 

[emsr2d2]

I have been studying the use of the word aforementioned, and I'm confused. In what cases do I use that word in place of this or that. For example, in the sentence below (Cambridge Dictionary):

The information sent in the aforementioned e-mail is not to be used for publication.

Why did they say in the aforementioned e-mail? Why not just say that email?

"Aforementioned" works in that sentence only if reference has been made to the relevant email in a previous (close) sentence. If it hasn't, the writer might have incorrectly used it to mean "previous" (if they're talking about the last email they sent).

 

[Rover_KE]

The dictionary compilers used the sentence to illustrate the use of aforementioned which they had already defined as 'written in an earlier sentence or page'.

 

[99bottles]

The dictionary compilers used the sentence to illustrate the use of aforementioned which they had already defined as 'written in an earlier sentence or page'.

If the earlier sentence is the sentence right before the sentence I'm writing, can I still use aforementioned? Or should I use this or that instead?

 

[jutfrank]

As you're talking about reference, all this depends on context so it is in principle possible that one could naturally use aforementioned in such close proximity as an immediately following sentence. Whether you can use this or that also depends entirely on context.