Shouldn't a sentence contain at least a verb?
What verb can I answer this with?
"Yes, a sentence should contain a verb."
No is a complete sentence
91–99 of 99 posts
Re: No is a complete sentence
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Has someone asked you to do something recently that you know you don’t have time to do but felt like you needed to do anyway? "When is this needed" is a great alternative to a hard "no". It opens up a conversation about priorities. And lets you transparent about what needs to get delayed so that this new priority can be worked. It's a perfectly reasonable conversation to have, and helps you keep healthy boundaries.
“Yesterday” Followed by a blog post about why the deadline of yesterday doesn't need an explanation
This reminds me of a former director who liked to say to some of our partner teams, "poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.". She was good at putting a buffer in between IC's on our team and partner teams so we could focus more on planned work.
The "yesterday" need-by date maybe works the first time. Beyond that, if that's really the company culture or management style, I'd be quietly looking for a new job. Same category as Friday afternoon requests for things due Monday morning.
Re: No is a complete sentence
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personal contexts are different. Quite acceptable to say just "No" to: - do you want me to get you a drink? - may I kiss you? - I hear they're doing shrooms next door, shall we join them?
In what way can't you just say a plain "no" to: - do you want to take my shift? - Do you know how this api works? - Do you want to attend the meeting this afternoon? I don't see how personal vs professional changes anything.
I would say the first one is really a personal question, so just No is fine.
As to the second two, sying "No" with no explanation would probably mark you out as a bit of a dick/ difficult to work with.
Re: No is a complete sentence
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed an example which needs more explanation. I don't get what you mean https://linux.die.net/man/1/no
It works if your are asked "which is your favorite command?" "no, yes" ('which' is a command). It doesn't work if you are asked "which one is your favorite command".
Oh but it does.
Re: No is a complete sentence
#95From an organizational perspective, this is horrible advice: > Let me tell you clearly. “No” is a complete sentence. It requires no explanation or defense. The "It requires no explanation or defense" part is just plain wrong . If someone asks you to do something in an organization, it's fine to say "No", but an explanation is nearly always expected. And this explanation is critical, because often time the answer is s…
“No” is too abrasive in most situations, but any flavor of “Sorry, it won’t be possible.” is a valid complete response to be processed by the person asking. I am sympathic to author’s argument that you stay there with a valid explanation upon request and start work it out with the other party from there as needed. Clearly stating that something won’t happen is a first important step. It often gets muddied if you star…
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Re: No is a complete sentence
#96Oh god not this again. I'm not sure if this is just ripped off or if this is another person encouraging others to commit career and / or social suicide. To be blunt if you do this to me in the workplace and you are my direct report you will get a verbal warning. If you do it repeatedly you will get fired. If you are a colleague and you do this I will report you, and will never help you. If you do this to me and I kno…
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Re: No is a complete sentence
#97What kind of environment do people work in where this is acceptable advice? Daily interactions with other people, whether at work or outside, aren't meant to be algorithmic functions with a "yes" or "no" output. If you care to maintain actual relationships then your behavior has to be a lot more nuanced than that. Even though the response may be fully justified, you have to get that justification out there. People ca…
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Re: No is a complete sentence
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
It really depends on where the request is coming from. If it's from your manager or another department that depends on you, then sure, an explanation is probably a good idea. Anyone else, well, no. If their issue is important enough, they can escalate it to your manager.
I think this is still terrible advice. As a manager, I expect the people on my team to at least try to fight their own battles. I'm always there to help if they need me, but if I'm continually being called in to resolve disputes that could have been avoided with a few minutes of conversation, I'm going to be upset. It wastes everyone's time and strain on relationships with the people around you.
As a manager, and I have no compunction telling my team to try and fight their own battles first, and if they need to refer someone to me to resolve the issue, then to do so. I'm there to support my team 100% at all times as well as to deliver business outcomes.
If you're getting upset over issues like this, perhaps management is not for you. Of course it may also depend on how tenuous the relationship with your own manager is.
Re: No is a complete sentence
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great advice from Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”: simply saying “I would prefer not to…” has worked so many times for me.
I would like to hear (read) Melville's Bartebly's genius response in other languages. For my part: Radije ne bih. (Serbian)
Wolałbym nie. ((I would wish/chose/prefer) (not))