At A1 in the category of MODALITY, there are two points: affirmative question form. ‘can’ to make a request. and in the category of QUESTIONS: a limited range of modal verbs + subject + main verb to form ‘yes/no’ *Because these points clash with higher levels, the main difference to note is that all the …
Here are the most common examples with explanations of ‘would you mind‘: Would you mind if I took your picture? *notice the past form ‘took’ to be polite. Listen to the pronunciation In the English Grammar Profile, point 83 at B1 in the category of MODALITY is defined as: ‘would’ to make polite requests, often in the fixed expression ‘would you …
Let’s look at how ‘hoped’ is used to make requests and orders less direct. Even if we would usually say I hope + something happens, we can push the verb ‘hope’ into the past tense not to refer to time. We often do tense shifts in English to express modality. In this case, to express …
C2 English Grammar Profile point 38 in the category of PRESENT/continuous is defined as: POLITENESS: with verbs that are not usually used in this form to make statements and requests sound less direct. EXAMPLES: I am asking us to use our power to choose. I am asking us to level up. TED We are asking businesses not to produce and consumers not to go out and consume. TED An iWeb search for I|We am|are asking|wanting * …
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 101 in MODALITY/adverbs is defined: ‘could’ + subject + ‘possibly’ to make requests more polite *This is a very rare structure across corpora for a B1 structure. This point overlaps the more common and general: B1 questions with adverbs: Could you possibly tell me how to fix this? An iWeb search for: . Could I|you possibly * 1 . …
This post contains an example of overlapping B1 grammar points located inside two different categories in the English Grammar Profile (EGP). EGP B1 point 6 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: REPORTED REQUESTS AND COMMANDS with ‘ask’ or ‘tell’ + direct object and ‘to-‘infinitive EGP B1 point 38 in the category of …
May I BE SO BOLD AS TO ASK why you want to understand this grammar?
Would you BE SO KIND AS TO GIVE me a lift down to the book store?
This very formal grammar is used in polite requests.
The English Grammar Profile B2 point 14 in REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: ‘ask’ or ‘tell’ + direct object + ‘not’ + ‘to-‘infinitive. This point can be extended with Pearson’s GSE 60 B2 report orders, requests and advice with infinitive clauses. She told me not to do it. He warned us not to be late. *Pearson also includes an affirmative example: ‘She encouraged him to …
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 123 in the category of modality is defined as: ‘will’ (particularly ‘Will you please’) to make requests and commands in a wide range of contexts. The confusing part of this entry is that there is a lexical range of 3 bars given, but it is not mentioned in …
There are four entries in the English Grammar Profile that capture “May I…?” Point 97 are polite questions. They probably are not really asking for permission. 119 is literally asking for permission. Yet, for the purposes of designating a complexity level, this matters little. The interpretation of this structure becomes more difficult once we jump …
