[General] We have been asked

[suniljain]

We have been asked to respond latest by 13 November.

We have been told to respond latest by 13 November.

Are the both sentences OK? Can we use interchangeably "asked" and "told"?

 

[MikeNewYork]

The endings should be "to respond by 13 November at the latest".

 

[Rover_KE]

You cannot use 'asked' and 'told' interchangeably.

'Asked to respond' is a request: you have a choice. 'Told to respond' is an instruction: there will be consequences if you disobey.

 

[Tdol]

Ask can be used as a polite way of telling someone, but the opposite is not the case.

 

[suniljain]

Have/ Have been

We have been asked to respond latest by 13 November.

We have asked to respond latest by 13 November.

I understand the difference between both sentences is that the first sentence says that there is time to respond yet but the 2nd sentence says that time is over to respond. Am I correct? or Is 2nd sentence is incorrect?

 

[MikeNewYork]

See post #2. The time has not expired.

 

[suniljain]

See post #2. The time has not expired.

Does it mean that we can use either of the following sentence:

We have been asked to respond latest by 13 November.

We have asked to respond latest by 13 November.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Have been asked' and 'have asked' are the passive voice and the active voice respectively, so they mean different things.

 

[MikeNewYork]

No. "Respond latest by 13 November" is not natural. I have tried to tell you that.

 

[emsr2d2]

Read post #2 again. "by latest 13 November" is not natural. We say "by 13th November at the latest".

 

[Matthew Wai]

to respond latest by 13 November.

'Latest' cannot be used as an adverb according to
http://www.ldoceonline.com/search/?q=latest

 

[suniljain]

Re: Have/ Have been

I am still confused as to when each of the following sentence is to be used. Any help in clarifying this confusion is greatly appreciated.

We have been asked to respond by 13 November at the earliest.

We have asked to respond by 13 November at the earliest.

I understand that 1st sentence means that We have to respond whereas second sentence means that We asked someone to respond. Am I correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: Have/ Have been

You've changed it from "at the latest" to "at the earliest". Do you realise they have completely different meanings?

You must reply by 13 November at the latest = You must reply on any day before, and including, 13 November but not 14 November or any day after that.

You must reply by 13 November at the earliest = You must reply on 13 November or any day after that but you cannot reply on any day from 1 November to 12 November inclusive. It's a strange instruction.

 

[suniljain]

Re: Have/ Have been

You've changed it from "at the latest" to "at the earliest". Do you realise they have completely different meanings?

My Apology. I was supposed to write "latest" but by mistake I wrote "earliest"

 

[Matthew Wai]

Re: Have/ Have been

We have been asked to respond ...
We have asked to respond ...

I think the first means 'We have been asked by someone to respond' and the second means 'We have asked someone to let us respond'.

We asked someone to respond.

'Someone' cannot be omitted after 'asked' if the above is your intended meaning.