To occur with

[Silvia]

Hi all,

I would like to know if it's correct to say:

"Something that occured with the payment"

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[cuchuflete]

Hi all,

I would like to know if it's correct to say:

"Something that occured with the payment"

Thanks in advance for your help

Hola Silvia,

That sounds like English written by a non-native speaker with very good command of English, but it's not quite idiomatic.


First, we need context.
Second, we need to know, if possible, the intent.


Let me guess: You are writing to the telephone company, asking that they not discontinue your service for non-payment of their invoice. You explain that you sent them a check/cheque last week, and that, if they haven't received it, something [the gremlins ate it, the postal workers were on strike and threw the mail in the river....] occured to prevent them from receiving it.

Depending on the context, it may be just fine as written, or perhaps a little awkward.

abrazos,
Cuchu

 

[Silvia]

Let's say that a payment was splitted into two payments, due to some mistake or currency problem, this is unknown --> therefore we do not not what, but something occured with the payment or to the payment?!

 

[B. Davis]

Hello silviap,

I would say that "there was a problem with the payment", and then explain the problem.

Bruce

 

[Ralf]

In a similar situation once I heard a contractor's accountant inquiring about a missing payment. He asked: "What has happend to our invoice?" One of our 'commercial guys' answered: "Something went wrong with the payment." But this had been an informal conversation 'off the protocol' on a construction site. So I'm not sure if it will correspond with your purpose.

Ralf

 

[Sharon]

Silviap,

The first thing I would like to say is that the past tense of occur is occurred.

Really, I think some of your word choice depends on if the error was yours, or theirs!
Not knowing this, I would suggest something along the lines of: "It appears that some sort of error occurred at the time of payment, and..." then either ask them what they are going to do about it, or tell them what you are already doing about it!

Hope that helps!
Sharon.

 

[lsp]

Let's say that a payment was splitted split into two payments, due to some mistake or currency problem, this is unknown --> therefore we do not not what, but something occurred with the payment or to the payment?!

It's simple and it's correct. Something occurred with the payment.

 

[cuchuflete]

It's simple and it's correct. Something occurred with the payment.

LSP- You are right in saying that it's simple and correct, but that is often said of microsoft help pages as well. But is it useful communication?

If the point is that something has gone wrong, why not say,

"Something went wrong with the payment" ??

Cuchu

 

[Nick]

LSP- You are right in saying that it's simple and correct, but that is often said of microsoft help pages as well. But is it useful communication?

If the point is that something has gone wrong, why not say,

"Something went wrong with the payment" ??

Better: Something happened to (or with) the payment.

Even better: The specific problem (eg: Your payment wasn't processed because your check bounced.)