The Weltchek Weekly

Please let us know if you’re aligned to this.

That line appeared in an email about an agenda for an upcoming meeting. Its author should have written, Let us know if you agree with this.

In everyday English, align means to arrange in a line, as in, The pictures look best when their tops are aligned.

To align also means to support or to line up with something (or someone), for example, Newspapers usually align themselves with certain political parties.

In business, align is used—often murkily—to express that something is being changed so that it has a correct relationship to something else, for example, The pharmaceutical company is tackling new diseases and is aligning its drug prices accordingly. I’d venture that the company is using the fuzzy-sounding aligning intentionally, instead of adjusting or increasing (likely the case).

But back to the opening example, there’s nothing wrong—and everything right— with asking someone if they agree with a proposed meeting agenda.

For more on how to use align correctly—and lots of clearer options—read, Save Align for the Planets and Stars.