Grammaticality – ‘The Links Are Not Working’ vs ‘The Links Don’t Work’

grammaticalitygrammaticality-in-contextpresent-tenseprogressive-aspect

My manager at work has sent me two links for competitors in order to check their products. Unfortunately, these links are not working.

I want to send a reply to my manager to inform her of this problem. Which of the following two replies is correct?

  • Dear Ms. XXXX,

    The links don't work.

  • Dear Ms. XXX,

    The links are not working.

Best Answer

Either one is grammatically correct, but they differ in the level of formality. I work in a relatively formal work environment, and I would use the second one when writing to my manager, since it sounds a little more formal to me. In fact, I might say:

I'm terribly sorry, but the links don't appear to be working.

This language may be too formal in less formal settings.

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