〜次第です following the 連体形 of a verb

Question

My textbook includes numerous examples of 次第, such as following nouns in which it can be translated as "depending on", or when following the 連用形 of verbs in which it can be translated as "as soon as", but it includes another set of examples in which it follows the 連体形 of verbs and is followed by the copula です.

The following is one such example:

日時の変更について、改めてお知らせする次第です。

(I will inform you later of any changes in the time and place of the meeting.)

The only explanation that the book gives for this kind of usage is to gloss the sentence with "知らせるわけです".

Looking at these such examples, it seems to me that this type of 次第です may be a type of polite language. Is this correct? What are the nuances of its usage?

Answer 1

The usage of [次第]{しだい}です/であります at the end of a sentence is indeed reserved for polite and formal language --- in particular, it is most often used in business letters.

The phrase means that one is taking an action either right now or in the near future that has been necessitated by another event in the past. 次第 here has the nuance of a "natural next step" in the flow of events.

In your sentence, 「[日時]{にちじ}の[変更]{へんこう}について、[改]{あらた}めてお[知]{し}らせする[次第]{しだい}です。」, 日時の変更 has not been finalized as the author writes this. he is saying that he will inform you of the 変更 when it is finalized.

Finally, 「知らせるわけです」 is not even close in meaning to 「お知らせする次第です」.　I, a native Japanese speaker, actually do not even know what 「知らせるわけです」 could mean without context. Something like "This is the reason I am informing you.", maybe?