The emphasis should be on clarity. Overall you want to leave the requester in no doubt about what it will take to get approval because the most frustrating thi

The emphasis should be on clarity. Overall you want to leave the requester in no doubt about what it will take to get approval because the most frustrating thing for both of you will be ping pong. Tone is very hard to judge in written form particularly when there might be cultural and language divides, in my experience though it doesn't really matter what style you use provided that you also remember to comment on things that are good and do not need changing. This is routinely forgotten and more than balances any perception of negative tone the requester might inadvertently infer.