Is it correct

0 I believe your friend meant to write, ""Due to my PRESENCE overseaS, I would not be able to read and reply your email. I shall be available after 25 May. Thanks" 0-

0I wonder whether it shouldn't be 'absence'? 02br
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00"Due to my absence overseas, I 01b00will02b00 not be able to read 01b00or02b00 reply 01b00to02b00 your email. I shall be available after 25 May. Thanks." 02br
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00Some would also quibble about the use o

0 hi Temico and MM, 02br
00thanks for the answers. So does it mean 'absence' and 'presence' both can be used in that sentence? Mister M, thanks for correcting my grammar 'would' to 'will', i didn't notice when i read the email. Thanks 0-

0He's gone, so it should be 'absence', Joe. 0-

0 Since "overseas" is like "abroad" or "in a foreign country", wouldn't presence be better? 02br
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00Any which way, this phrase is unnatural, and should be reworked. 0-

0If the writer is 'present'-- wherever the location may be-- s/he should be able to read his/her email; it is his/her 'absence' that prevents him/her from doing so. 0-

0 MM, 02br
00Your sentence sounds fine to me but how can we justify, theoretically, the use of OR in a negative sentence? I mean grammars insist on the use of "nor"... 0-

0 Due to my "absence in another country" certainly wouldn't work. 02br
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00I don't advocate "presence", it's just that "absence overseas" makes less sense. 02br
00(office e-mails cannot always be answered abroad!) 02br
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00Still, I googled it, and it's common enough. 02br
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00Common trumps logical every time. 0-

0Better check that grammar book again, Miche-- there are options: 02br
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00I like neither apples nor kumquats. 02br
00I don't like either apples or kumquats. 02br
00I don't like apples or kumquats. 0-

0Thanks, MM! I must have been thinking about some other rule.050010id6