Is it correct to say "the said meeting"? [closed]
The word said can also be used as an adjective to refer to something that has been previously introduced. (vocabulary.com)
- Its use as an adjective comes mainly in legal and business writing.
In that vein, the word offers a reference to something that was mentioned earlier.
- The judge may tell you that if you can't provide said evidence, your case will be dismissed. (That evidence was mentioned before).
It’s essentially a briefer replacement of words like aforementioned and aforesaid. (grammarist.com)
In these examples, said serves no purpose and could be removed:
- The said location is set up on 2123 Rhode Island, a vacant lot. [Property Magazine]
- Verizon will accept pre-orders for the iPhone 4 starting this Thursday and will begin selling the said smart phone on February 10. [Top Tech Reviews]
In other cases, said could be replaced with the:
- For months we’ve heard rumour of a ‘PlayStation Phone’ being released, and speculated with regards to what the specs and capabilities of said phone would be. [Kotaku]
- Celebrity bloggers … love to post the latest scandalous photos of stars then ridicule said celebrities for being fame whores. [Creative Loafing Tampa]
The word "said" in "the said X" is a noun-modifier that specifies what kind of "X" it is referring to, namely "the X that has been mentioned". So in official documents "said" is often used to avoid having to repeat the specification. It usually can be omitted without any ambiguity.
It is unlikely that an official document would use the phrase "the said meeting" incorrectly, so it is likely that you misunderstood.
You might come across something like:
"The third annual meeting of The Exalted Poobahs of the Order of the Sighing Buffalo took place last Thursday. Said meeting was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Podunk Marriott."
In this case, "said" is used to avoid having to say, "The third annual meeting of The Exalted Poobahs of the Order of the Sighing Buffalo," again.
The definite article (the) is not required, as said is taking it's place.