How will you put it in chaste English?

Question

A business communication from Britain says: “We will ACTION your request/ instructions” meaning “we will act according to or carry out your request/ instruction”.

I find the word “Action” in this context very odd.

And I am not quite satisfied with the alternatives I have suggested.


If I make a request or give you some instructions, how will you say in chaste English that you will carry out my instructions or you will act according to it? Please note that my requests / instructions are acceptable to you.
Additional Details

PS: My objection is to the use of "action" as a verb.

Answer 1

Or "We will act on your request/instructions."

Answer 2

I think "We will COMPLY WITH your request"; though this sounds as though they're 'giving into' or 'forced to carry out' your request without a 'softener' adverb like 'gladly', etc.

'We will IMPLEMENT your request' could be a good single word verb substitute, but 'We will PUT INTO ACTION' your request' is probably the best way to use ACTION in this sentence.

Sounds a bit like 'business-speak' or 'business-ese', though it may be a new verbal use of the noun. As living languages continually grow & evolve, they can easily acquire extra uses in different word classes, and maybe the word ACTION has picked up an additional word class i.e. verb.

Also, you should make allowances for the Brits, instead of vacuuming the carpet, they HOOVER the floor! It may be a portent of things to come!

Answer 3

I agree that "action" as a verb is strange, and not standard English. There is a phenomenon in language development whereby nouns become verbs, "Let me Xerox this page" or "I'll Google it for you", but that's more frequent with proper nouns.

I'm not sure what you mean by chaste English, but here are a couple of alternative wordings:

"We will act upon your request."
"We will carry out your instructions."

I suggest you choose either "request" or "instructions" but not both, because they take slightly different verbs.

Answer 4

You could try "Thank you for your request / instuction. It will be completed within (whatever timeframe is reasonable; minutes, weeks, months etc.)

I assume you're not a native English speaker. If you're not, and are responding to businesses located in native English speaking countries, don't worry about it!

I'm an English language teacher, so if you'd like some helpful websites, let me know. Good luck navigating our strange language!

Answer 5

Suggested words to replace "action"..
favor
consider
handle
deal with
conduct
accomplish
undertake

Answer 6

How about "process"?
We will process your request!