[Sigia-l] editor question

[Jon Hanna]

> A bit off topic - apologies. We are writing on-screen instructions.
> These go on a complex screen (with forms and lots of widgets) and should
> be short. Should we say:
> 
> "ask your manager to determine when to use this screen."
> or is this ok:
> "ask your manager when to use this screen."
> 
> Is the second one colloquial?

No, all the words used are standard English and the syntax is standard.
The second is also perfectly correct, if slightly awkward.