Disagreeing
That’s not necessarily true.
I’m not so sure I agree.
I don’t know that I agree.
That’s not always true.By partially disagreeing or using indirect, tentative language, we can soften our message and ensure we don’t offend our listener.
Does using “could” instead of “can” make a request more polite?
Explain that using “could” instead of “can” does make a request more polite but that there are phrases we use to be less direct and more polite when we make requests.
Explain that we mostly use these phrases in the following situations:
When the person to whom we are making the request does not have an obligation to say yes. Giving Advice
You may/might want to consider… It might be a good idea to… Have you thought about…?Saying “you should” could be too direct, especially if we’re talking to a supervisor, a client, or someone we don’t know very well.
How do you say if a request is genuine?
You can use phrases like “Could you…?”, “Would you mind…?”, “Is it possible to…?”, or “If it’s not too much trouble…”. 3.
How can I make my request sound more sincere.
Using a kind tone, adding “please”, and showing appreciation can make your request sound more genuine.
How to make a polite request in English at work?
As this is a formal environment, we’re supposed to be extremely polite if we need to ask someone to do something for us.
We must use appropriate phrases, expressions, and body language to get things done.
The following examples can be useful for making polite requests in English at work.
Could you give me some time after lunch? .
Making Suggestions
What about if… Maybe we could… I thought it might be a good idea to… It seems to me that we should… One thing we might want to consider is… I think… I feel like…Simply saying “we should” is often too direct.
We can soften the message by using indirect, tentative language and “we” instead of “I.”
Offers
Making an offer: Would you like me to….
Can I help you with….
If you’d like, I can…Saying “Do you need help?” could be too direct and might suggest that the person cannot handle the task.
Accepting an offer: Sure, that would be great.
Yes, thank you.A simple “thanks” or “thank you” is often sufficient.
Pointing Out A Mistake
It looks like… It seems… Didn’t we agree on…?/Didn’t we decide….
I thought we had agreed to/on… I seem to remember that we…By asking questions and using tentative language, we can soften our message.
We normally don’t want to say “this is wrong” or “you are wrong.”
Redirecting
Maybe we could get back to… Maybe we could talk about… Why don’t we move on to…?Using one of these expressions makes for a smooth transition between topics.
Requests
Simple requests: Could/can you….
Would you mind…?For routine requests (asking someone to do his/her job) we can be fairly direct.
Big requests/favors: I was hoping you could… I was wondering if you could… Would it be okay if….
Do you think you might be able to…?For big requests and favors, we need to be indirect and polite.
Saying “Could/can you…” .
What are some common polite expressions we use in the workplace?
free resources and more… Below are some common polite expressions we use in the workplace.
These polite expressions will help non-native speakers sound more polite and diplomatic.
That sounds great, but… I’m sorry, but I really can’t.
I have to… I really appreciate the invite, but… .
Social and linguistic theory of politeness
Politeness theory, proposed by Penelope Brown and Stephen C.
Levinson, centers on the notion of politeness, construed as efforts on redressing the affronts to a person's self-esteems or effectively claiming positive social values in social interactions.
Such self-esteem is referred as the sociological concept of face to discuss politeness as a response to mitigate or avoid face-threatening acts such as requests or insults.
Notable components in the framework of the theory include positive and negative faces, face threatening act (FTA), strategies for doing FTAs and factors influencing the choices of strategies; each described below.
