Which sentence would be considered not part of standard professional communications?

• A. We plan to go out for dinner on Fri.
• B. Should Professor Martin meet with us next Thursday?
• C. Erick stated, "We would like to meet with you sometime next week, and discuss our timeline for completion."
• D. Jaxter drove the new van from New York City to San Francisco.

Answer: (C)

In standard professional communications, two actions that share the same subject are joined with and without an extra pause. In the quoted line, there are two actions tied to the same subject: meeting with you sometime next week and discussing our timeline for completion. The comma before and creates an unnecessary pause and breaks the smooth flow of the sentence. Dropping that comma keeps the sentence clean and correct: We would like to meet with you sometime next week and discuss our timeline for completion.

The other sentences are acceptable in tone and structure for professional writing. The first uses an informal date abbreviation that’s common in note-taking, though spelling out the day can be more formal. The second is a correctly formed question, and the fourth is a clear, straightforward statement.