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“Do it very quickly” vs “do it ASAP”

Quite often I need to say that I will do something really soon - e.g. in a few hours, but not sure how much time it will take exactly.

I usually say something like:

I will make it shortly

I will do it in a short while

What are the most common phrases for this?

"I will do it soon" sounds rather lengthy. "I will do it ASAP" sounds unsure.

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marked as duplicate by MετάEd, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, Brendon, Monica Cellio, Robusto Jan 23 '12 at 15:52


ASAP isn't unsure. ASAP means "As soon as possible", which is immediately, within some constraints. –  slim Jan 23 '12 at 14:46
How is "I will do it soon" lengthier than "I will make it shortly" or "I will do it in a short while"? And how is "in a few hours" really soon? Time is a relative concept. If you're under water, getting some air "really soon" means seconds, not hours. In geologic time, "really soon" could mean a thousand years. It's unclear what you are asking here. –  Robusto Jan 23 '12 at 14:48

5 Answers 5

"I'll do it soon". Four syllables. You can't get much terser than that.

There are too many alternatives to even begin to list; stick to "I'll do it soon" or "I'll do it shortly", and look out for alternatives when you're reading or listening.

You'll have a nice collection in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

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I frequently use presently, but I am not sure how common it is. It means "shortly" or "soon."

I'll get to that presently.
I shall return presently with the coffee.

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Presently is often used to mean "soon", but it is slightly nonstandard, insofar as it also means "now" (or "at present"). Compare that with the American use of momentarily. Mind you, in parts of Wales, "now" is used to mean "soon". "I'll do it now"... –  slim Jan 23 '12 at 15:03

Well, if you are from the Southern U.S., you would say "fixin' to" As in, "I'm fixin' to go to the store, you want anything while I'm there?"

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Let's assume OP doesn't want dialect that'll make them look semi-literate in any other part of the world. –  slim Jan 23 '12 at 14:47

"I've placed it on my itinerary for the day" may serve your purposes, depending on how buttoned-down your work environment is. But gee, there doesn't seem to be a way, really, to expect a list of such options to materialize.

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"I'll do it soon" pretty much expresses the idea and is about as concise as you can get. I'm not sure how you could say it more briefly, other than maybe, "Yeah, soon," or simply grunting.

An appropriate statement might depend on what you mean by "soon" in context, as Robusto notes in his comment. In a business environment, "We'll have email working again soon" would be understood to mean hours at most. "We'll have the factory re-tooled to produce the new product soon" could easily mean within a few months.

Not only is there the question of how urgent the task is, but also have how soon you really plan to get to it in relation to the other person's expectations. Like, if someone wants a job done within an hour, and you plan to get to it tomorrow, "I'll get on that real soon" -- meanting tomorrow -- could be misleading. In such cases, a more specific statement might be better, like, "I'll start on that tomorrow" or "I should have that done by 3:00".

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