Am I using "at hand" correctly?

I wanted to write a letter to decline an invitation. The reasons were I am already involved in other activities and the time is very short to prepare for the trip.

I said:

"The very short time I have at hand to prepare for this activity does not allow me to attend"

I know to have time at hand basically means you have some spare time to do nothing or explore etc., which is a positive thing usually, but can it be used with a negative connotation like I did above?

Thanks for your help!

Welcome to the forum.

It really depends on what you've been invited to. If it's a wedding, then a simple "With great regret, I am unable to attend the wedding of [bride] to [groom]" RSVP is fine. If it's a work conference, I'd just go with "Unfortunately, I am unable to attend". If it's a nice weekend trip with mates, then "I'm so sorry, everyone. I'm so busy, I just can't go! Maybe next time."

As you can see, context is everything.

Your original sentence is grammatical but sounds like something that might have been written 150 years ago.

Two things. One, I suggest that you write shorter, simpler sentences. Two, are you saying that "I'm busy" is negative?

emsr2d2 said:

Welcome to the forum.

It really depends on what you've been invited to. If it's a wedding, then a simple "With great regret, I am unable to attend the wedding of [bride] to [groom]" RSVP is fine. If it's a work conference, I'd just go with "Unfortunately, I am unable to attend". If it's a nice weekend trip with mates, then "I'm so sorry, everyone. I'm so busy, I just can't go! Maybe next time."

As you can see, context is everything.

Your original sentence is grammatical but sounds like something that might have been written 150 years ago.

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Thank you for your reply.

I was not looking for alternatives. I strictly wanted to know whether "short time at hand" was used correctly to say that the invitation was on very short notice and I do not have enough time to prepare.

As to the 150 years ago comment, I really don't know what to say. I heard this saying often enough in this century too, otherwise I wouldn't have used it as naturally as I did.

Tarheel said:

Two things. One, I suggest that you write shorter, simpler sentences. Two, are you saying that "I'm busy" is negative?

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Thanks for your reply.

1. Maybe I'm too old (I'm 29), but why is everyone looking to make everything simple and short? It's not Twitter, it's an official correspondence that really needs to fill at least half a page.

2. I'm not saying "I'm busy" is negative, I'm saying "I don't have time" is negative, as opposed to "I have some time to spare".

You need to fill half a page in order to explain why you can't go to something?

On this forum, we tend to recommend that learners keep things short and simple purely because they are less likely to make mistakes that way.

@sorin.ion I've made that suggestion at least 100 times. (I'm not exaggerating.) Why? Well, there's a saying in English that you have to walk before you can run.

I'm guessing that you call it a negative sentence because "not" is in there. (I've never taken an ESL class.)

I might have missed something.

sorin.ion said:

I wanted to write a letter to decline an invitation. The reasons were I am already involved in other activities and the time is very short to prepare for the trip.

I said:

"The very short time I have at hand to prepare for this activity does not allow me to attend"

I know to have time at hand basically means you have some spare time to do nothing or explore etc., which is a positive thing usually, but can it be used with a negative connotation like I did above?

Thanks for your help!

Click to expand...

Absolutely, your usage of "The very short time I have at hand to prepare for this activity does not allow me to attend" is completely appropriate and conveys your message effectively. Your response is clear and respectful, indicating your genuine reasons for declining the invitation.

Not a teacher (Added by Rover_KE)

I might say I don't have enough time to get ready or I don't have enough time to prepare for the trip.

Martin45 said:

Absolutely, your usage of "The very short time I have at hand to prepare for this activity does not allow me to attend" is completely appropriate and conveys your message effectively. Your response is clear and respectful, indicating your genuine reasons for declining the invitation.

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I don't agree. it may be correct grammatically, but it is something that very few native speakers would say.

My view of this is that at hand does no useful work in the sentence anyway. You may as well just say The short time I have to prepare ... You don't need to say at hand.

Martin45 said:

Absolutely, your usage of "The very short time I have at hand to prepare for this activity does not allow me to attend" is completely appropriate and conveys your message effectively. Your response is clear and respectful, indicating your genuine reasons for declining the invitation.

Click to expand...

This post, like almost all of your other recent posts, sounds incredibly like it's ChatGPT speaking, @Martin45. Is that right?

@Martin45, please read this extract from the forum rules:

You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your posts.