You can afford to be concrete and precise, to use active-voice
verbs, and to be straightforward when dealing with facts, with
observations, with things that you saw. On the contrary, in a
piece of writing with potentially negative overtones, you should
hedge your interpretations of the facts or your statement about
the predicted results of your observation. Thus, since it is
a verifiable fact, you could safely say, "We still have
not received the financial information requested on April 15."
On the other hand, you will anger your reader if you say "You
still have not sent the financial information requested on April
15." |