Requests

There are different ways of asking for something. We usually ask for something in a polite and indirect way, for example, usingcan, could, would you mind ifandmay:

A:

CanI have the salt?

B:

Of course, here you are.

A:

CouldI ask you the time, please?

B:

No problem. It’s quarter past four.

A:

Would you mind ifI borrowed your pen, please?

B:

Of course, here you are.

A:

MayI have the bill, please?(Mayis more formal.)

B:

Certainly, Madam.

I needis very direct and is usually used for urgent requests:

Ineeda doctor.

I needthe fire extinguisher. Fast!

I wantis very direct and can sound impolite. We don’t normally use it to make requests unless we want to be very direct:

I wantto speak to the manager right now. I am not leaving here until I get my money back.

There are a number of ways of asking someone to do something in a polite and indirect way. We often usepleaseto make our requests more polite:

Could youcall a taxi for me,please?

Would youask Rose whether she has signed the card,please?

Would you mindcollecting my suit from the dry cleaner’s,please?

Do you think you couldcome in ten minutes early tomorrow, before the presentation?

We sometimes usecan youandwill youto make requests but they are more informal:

Mum,can youwake me at seven o’clock?

Will yousend me an email tomorrow just to remind me to book a hotel?

We needis often used in work contexts by a boss or manager to ask for something to be done in a polite way:

We needto email the contract to Peter immediately.

We needsomeone to go to the meeting in Paris on Wednesday. Bill can’t go.

When we are not sure if someone will be able to do what we ask, we sometimes useyou wouldn’t …, would you?oryou couldn’t …, could you?:

Youwouldn’tdrop this into the post office for me,would you?

Youcouldn’tstop at a bank machine,could you?

In formal letters and formal emails, we can use the following expressions:

Iwould be grateful if you couldsend me more information about the course.

Wewould be most grateful if you couldsend someone to meet us at the airport as we do not speak Japanese.