What's the difference between sale and sell?

Question

Do you say "pre-sell question" or "pre-sale question"?Thanks,Avi

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Do you say "pre-sell question" or "pre-sale question"?[/nq]
Neither is used in standard English (only in salesmen's jargon which may have its own conventions.)

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Do you say "pre-sell question" or "pre-sale question"?[/nq]
[nq:1]Neither is used in standard English (only in salesmen's jargon which may have its own conventions.)[/nq]
Sure they are used and they are spelled without a hyphen.

Brian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Do you say "pre-sell question" or "pre-sale question"? Thanks, Avi[/nq]
"Pre-sale", literally "before the sale". "Sell" is a verb and can't be used that way.
In marketing jargon, there is a verb "presell": to pose as a friendly authority on a subject in the expectation that you will gain the trust of people who will then believe you when you promote your goods.

Chris Green

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Do you say "pre-sell question" or "pre-sale question"? Thanks, Avi[/nq]
[nq:1]"Pre-sale", literally "before the sale". "Sell" is a verb and can't be used that way. In marketing jargon, there is ... the expectation that you will gain the trust of people who will then believe you when you promote your goods.[/nq]
i'M not in any such business, or a customer, but I would have thought presell meant to sell someone on the idea of buying some sort of thing before selling the actual item that can be bought. Maybe this would include the aspects you mention, but I think of of preselling as efforts** to convince someone that he might like an SUV better than a sedan, (which is what he has now, and what he thought he would buy another of) or that some time-share might be worth buying. Then later, he or someone else does the actual selling of a particular SUV or timeshare.
Preselling might take place at another location from the item for sale. (So might selling if you can find someone willing to buy someting sight unseen.) I don't remember any, but there might be presentation in NY or Baltimore for a time-share (or a new*** full-time retirement community)in Florida or the Eastern Shore of Md. Even the first lecture at the site of the property could be considered preselling in a separate location, if one has to drive a couple blocks afterward to see an actual lot or house.
**Just like with "sell", some uses of presell might require that the effort be successful. Other uses would not.
***It's usually only worth it when it is new and every unit is for sale, and not worth getting geared up to sell one or two units that are on the market for the second time years later.

s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"Pre-sale", literally "before the sale". "Sell" is a verb and can't be used that way.[/nq]
I don't entirely agree with this, as "sell" can be a noun; for example:

Salesperson A: "I see you finally finished with Mr Green" Salesperson B: "Yeah, but he was a real hard sell"

Granted, I would mark this as "colloquial" if I were a lexicographer; but I wouldn't be surprised if it was used by salesmen/women somewhere out there (in which case I would mark it as "jargon").

Admittedly, I wouldn't recommend using it, especially in the context provided by the OP. Sounds horrible, and would be too easily confused with the verb "presell".
Someone will probably now come up with an example of "presell" used as a noun...

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

Usenet · Answer

It is my fault for not providing enough context, so here goes:

Sometimes, when I contact web sites support, there is a classification of messages so that the staff can handle them more efficiently. For example, entries may be marked as "suggestions", "feedback" or "technical problems".
I have written to such a site, and I wanted to tell them that my message is a question I want to ask them before I'm buying their product (actually, I wanted to tell them I'm asking a pre-buy question -)
So, should it be: "I want to ask a pre-sale question" or "I want to ask a pre-sell question"? By your answers I think it should be "pre-sale".
For the life of me I can't figure why we had spelling & grammer checkers in Word years ago, and I don't have one when posting on google.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It is my fault for not providing enough context, so here goes: Sometimes, when I contact web sites support, there ... we had spelling & grammer checkers in Word years ago, and I don't have one when posting on google.Indeed: grammar.[/nq]
^
There is a long and proud tradition of posters to newsgroups and government ministers commenting on spelling, and making an error when they do so. If someone responds to me now and points out a spelling error, then I will only have myself to blame ;-)
Frankly I wouldn't pay you tuppence for the grammar-checker on Word. And I always turn off the automatic spelling correction, the blasted thing has an annoying habit of "correcting" things that are, in fact, correct.

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It is my fault for not providing enough context, so here goes: Sometimes, when I contact web sites support, there ... a pre-sale question" or "I want to ask a pre-sell question"? By your answers I think it should be "pre-sale".[/nq]
With your added description, I think it should be pre-purchase question. Sale and sell have more meanings than purchase does.

Or: Question before buying your product>software.
[nq:1]For the life of me I can't figure why we had spelling & grammer checkers in Word years ago, and I don't have one when posting on google.[/nq]
Word still has that. I think your English is quite good and you don't need one, unless you are writing something as a thesis or to be published in a journal. And then you, anyone, should have a human proofread what you've written.
If you really want to use a grammar checker, you could write your post in Word, check it there, and then copy it to your Google screen.**

Or you could read and post to newsgroups with a non-webbrowser that has a grammar checker, if there is one. (I wouldn't use Outlook or Outlook Express.)
**I do this when I'm forced to email via the web, when they give a form but no email address. I usually want to keep a copy of what I write, so I write it in my email program, then copy it to the browser window. That also means that I can save partially written emails, and I can turn off the computer without losing my text. Neither can be done when one writes entirely in a webbrowser.
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"Pre-sale", literally "before the sale". "Sell" is a verb and can't be used that way.[/nq]
[nq:1]I don't entirely agree with this, as "sell" can be a noun...[/nq]
And who says that pre- can't be affixed to a verb, anyway?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I don't entirely agree with this, as "sell" can be a noun...[/nq]
[nq:1]And who says that pre- can't be affixed to a verb, anyway?[/nq]
You know, I never even noticed that? It's a far odder assertion than the minor point I picked up on!

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

What's the difference between sale and sell?

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