Skip to main content

Modals of Polite Request

Introduction


These four questions are made with modal verbs:
  • Would you... ?
  • Could you... ?
  • Will you... ?
  • Can you... ?
Modal verbs are helping/auxiliary verbs that express ideas like ability, permission, and asking for assistance. Many modal verbs have more than one meaning. They are always followed by the simple form of a verb.
For example:
Could you help me for a minute, please?
This shows that the speaker is asking for help politely.
To ask questions in a very polite way, use: Would you/ Could you (please) + simple verb + ...?
For example:
Would you please email that document to me? I need it ASAP*.
Could you explain that again, please? I didn’t understand.
*ASAP = as soon as possible
To ask questions in a polite but more casual way, say: Will you/ Can you (please) + simple verb + ...?
For example:
Will you please answer the phone? I’m working.
Can you hold my books for me? My hands are full.
We do not use the word “may” in a polite question when “you” is the subject.
For example:
May you please close the door?  arrrow to the right  Wrong!
Could you please close the door?  arrrow to the right  Right!
The word “please” makes the request more polite and less direct. Canadians use “please” often and visitors are expected to ask for help politely, using “please.”
Possible positive answers to the questions above:
Yes.Yes certainly.
Certainly.		Yes, of course.
Of course.		I’d be happy to.
I’d be glad to.
My pleasure.   
Informally, we can say:
Sure.
Okay.
Uh-huh. (means yes)
To answer negatively, we say:
No.
Sorry.
No, I’m sorry. I can’t.
Sorry, I can’t.  I’m busy right now.
I’d like to, but I can’t.
I’d love to, but I’m busy right now.

Text /Source: "Modals of Polite Request: Would you, Could you, Will you, Can you" by University of Victoria English Language Centre is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Lessons and Exercises

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making and Responding to Suggestions

Imagine that you haven’t seen a good friend in a month. In a telephone call, your friend tells you she would like to get together for dinner but can’t think of a restaurant to go to. So, you offer an idea. Listen to a short  conversation : I’d love to have dinner on Friday but I’m not sure where. How about we go to Chez Philip? Great idea! I haven’t been there in over a year. The phrase  How about  is one common way to make a friendly suggestion in English. To make a suggestion means to offer an idea or plan for someone to think about. You probably already know a few ways to make suggestions in English, using words such as  could  or  should . But, on this Everyday Grammar program, we’ll talk about common phrases you can use for making friendly suggestions. We use many of these phrases in question form. How about…? Let’s start by talking a little more about the phrase  How about. When you ask a question using  How about,  you are asking someone if they agree with
Post a Comment
Read more

compound pronouns

Words like 'something', 'everywhere', 'anybody' and 'no-one' are indefinite pronouns. We use them for people, things and places. People: somebody* / anybody* / nobody* / everybody* Things: something / anything / nothing / everything Places: somewhere / anywhere / nowhere / everywhere *We can use anybody or anyone - the meaning is the same. It's also true for someone, no-one and everyone. These are singular words, so we use a singular verb with them. Text source :  Beckwith, Seonaid. “Indefinite Pronouns.”   Perfect-English-Grammar.Com , www.perfect-english-grammar.com/something-anything-nothing-everything.html. Accessed 6 Dec. 2019. Lessons and Exercises : BBC Learning English Someone, nothing, anywhere Somebody, anybody, nobody, everybody Quiz: Somebody, anybody, nobody, everybody  (PDF) Perfect English Grammar Indefinite pronouns Indefinite Pronouns Exercise 1 Oxford University Press   Indefinite pronouns: some-
Post a Comment
Read more