Making Polite Requests in Email

2022-07-22

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1
  • Hello. In this week's Everyday Grammar report, we will talk about how to communicate politely in emails, especially when making requests.
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  • Samuel from China recently wrote to us asking about how to communicate more effectively in email.
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  • Thank you, Samuel for suggesting the idea.
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  • Knowing how to express politeness is important, especially if you are emailing in English for a job or school.
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  • Let's consider a few ways to make our communication by email more polite when making requests.
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  • When writing a request by email, there are several ways to express your politeness.
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  • Turning a command into a question
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  • Instead of making your request as a command, turn the request into a question.
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  • Commands or imperatives use the "you" form of a verb to create the command.
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  • Instead of:
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  • Please meet me at 5 PM.
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  • You could say:
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  • Do you want to meet me at 5 PM?
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  • Here we use a yes or no question to make the request.
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  • You can make a yes or no question this way:
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  • Auxiliary Verb + Subject + Main Verb
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  • The question permits the receiver a choice which is more polite.
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  • The receiver could say "yes" or "no" and provide a reason or suggest a different time to meet.
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  • Use of please
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  • Did you notice anything about the use of "please" in the above examples?
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  • The word "please" was used in the command.
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  • And it was not used in the more polite question.
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  • We do not always have to use please to make a polite request.
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  • Sometimes the use of "please" can come across as too strong or demanding.
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  • In email, we do not always pick up on the tone of what is written.
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  • Could you please meet me at 5 PM?
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  • This question may come across as too strong.
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  • Would you like to meet me at 5 PM?
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  • Using "would like" is a polite way to offer and make requests.
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  • The use of "please" is not necessary here.
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  • Requests with modals
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  • Modals are verbs that are used to express possibility, ability, or necessity.
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  • These include verbs like would, could, will, and can, among others.
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  • You can use modals with your question to make a request.
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  • "Could" and "Would" are the more polite forms.
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  • "Can" and "will" are still polite, but they are used for requests that are more casual or informal.
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  • Here are some common expressions with modals to make your request:
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  • Could
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  • Could you help me with this?
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  • Do you think you could meet me later next week?
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  • Would
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  • Would you have time to help me?
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  • Would you be able to take me to the store later?
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  • Will
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  • Will you still pick me up from the airport?
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  • Can
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  • Can you get me a coffee if you're going to the café?
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  • When we use these modals to make requests, the level of politeness is understood because the polite meaning is attached to the modal itself.
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  • Today, we talked about three ways to make our requests more polite.
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  • We can turn a command statement into a question.
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  • We can choose to use or not use "please" when making the request.
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  • And we can use modals to help express the request.
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  • Next time we will continue our report about politeness in emails, covering three more ways to make polite requests.
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  • Now it is your turn! Practice politely requesting something using the three ways discussed above.
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  • For example, you could request a favorite language or grammar subject for us to explore.
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  • Let us know in the comments below or write to us at learningenglish@voanews.com.
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  • We might use your message in a future episode of Everyday Grammar!
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  • I'm Faith Pirlo.
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  • And I'm Jill Robbins.