Polite Questions
Polite imperatives and requests
– We can say ‘please’ after an imperative to be polite:
Listen to me, please.
However, in a social context it is better not to use the imperative, even with ‘please’, to ask for things. It is more polite to use a question form:
Can you tell me the time, please? (not Tell me the time, please.)
– We can use
You couldn’t … could you? or You haven’t … have you?
for a polite request:
You couldn’t show me how to do it, could you?
You haven’t got an umbrella, have you?
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