These two comments were taken from one of our posts here on ELL. I think I had two questions, and the one in the comment was one of them . Would you read and comment please?
@learner Do you mean that reading John's answer caused you to check
a dictionary?
Then "You made me check a dictionary" would be most
appropriate, but if you want to avoid saying "you", you can avoid using
a causative entirely and say "I had to check a dictionary" instead.Thank you @SB. My questions were duly answered.
For the meaning of duly, Merriam Webster's says: in a due manner or time : properly
What sense do you understand from my comment to the knowledgeable person who answered my questions? Was my answer appropriate and does it sound natural?
When I was typing the comment I was afraid that the comment would have a bossy tone as if the other person was doing a job. Sometimes after reading more you feel get further lost.
I generally understand the meaning, but not so much as to know exactly when and how to use it other than copying the examples presented in the dictionaries! I hope this post was duly posted to see how far I have gone in knowing how to use it.
Please, bear in mind that I have read some posts in ELU (for example here and here) and this word's entries in several dictionaries including Cambridge, Oxford, The Free Dictionary and Macmillan. I have also checked COCA for more examples.
If my use above was not quite right, how would you fix it but still using duly there. I hope my question would be duly answered!
Best Answer
First, let me answer your numerous questions:
Duly is not used very much in informal (colloquial) speech and writing. As such, its formal tone shades the sentence. Is this wrong? Not at all. Using a formal tone is common in several languages when a person wishes to express an additional degree of respect and politeness. To give an example, the colloquial "May I please take your daughter to the dance?" versus the quite formal "May I please have the privilege and honor of escorting your daughter to the dance?"
So, to once again revisit your question and give you a comprehensive answer: Yes your comment was correct, and it sounded respectful. And to answer the implied question of how to avoid "sounding bossy" I suggest you do a bit of research on Imperative (grammatical) Mood. A good understanding of it will allow you to avoid "sounding bossy" unless you choose to.