“Can you pull up the pricing estimate I sent out last week?”

English Lesson: Can you pull up the pricing estimate I sent out last week?

You're working with a coworker on a sales proposal in her office. You need some information that's in a document which you emailed to her. You ask her to open it.

Can you pull up the pricing estimate I sent out last week?

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Can you (do something)?

This is a way to ask someone to do something. It's appropriate for:

  • a boss to use with the people who work for him or her
  • a customer to use with a store employee
  • a parent to use with his or her children
  • asking a friend to help you with something

"Can you ___" is more direct than asking "Could you..."

Sometimes a person will include "maybe" in this question:

Can you maybe call him and tell him to meet us there?

Can you maybe turn the volume down just a little?

send (something) out

When you add "out" to the verb "send", it suggests that you are sending it to more than one person:

We sent out our wedding invitations 6 months before the wedding.

This phrase can be used in casual or business settings. In a very formal setting, you can use the phrase "distribute (something)" instead:

Did you receive the revised schedule that I distributed on March 7th?

pull up (a file on a computer)

When you're using a computer or mobile phone, "pulling up" a file means opening it.

You can pull up:

  • a photo
  • a web page
  • a spreadsheet
  • a document
  • an email

However, "pull up" is probably not correct for talking about opening a music file or a game.

Use this phrase in casual or more formal situations.

an estimate

An "estimate" is a formal guess about how much something is going to cost. You can make an estimate for things like:

  • a construction project
  • a software product that your company is building

Estimates are often documents which show in detail the expected costs for something. However, if someone tells you the expected price in a meeting or over the phone, that can also be called a "pricing estimate".