November 10th, 2009 
admin In our daily life we come across many situations where we have to make a request or a command. There are different levels of politeness in making a request. You have to know them because they will help others to understand what you want to convey. Otherwise, there is a probability of taking your request as a command. The following are some of the ways how you can request something in English.
- Give me some money.
- Will you lend me some money, (please)?
- Can you lend me some money, (please)?
- Could you lend me some money?
- Do you think you could lend me some money?
- I wonder if you could lend me some money.
- Would you mind lending me some money?
- If you could lend me some money, I’d be very grateful/I’d appreciate it.
Make requests — Can you please lend me some money?
In the above list, the (1) is the least polite way of making a request and (8) is the most polite. They are arranged in the ascending order of politeness. The last form (8) is mostly used in writing not generally not used in speaking.
It is important to understand that using the proper degree of politeness is very important in the English language otherwise it sounds awkward. For example, if you say ‘would you mind fetching me some water?’ to your servant, it looks odd and he/she will be surprised. Also, when you want to ask something (pen for example) from a stranger don’t say ‘Will you lend me your pen?’ as it will sound the rudeness and he will understand it as a command instead of a request. Hence, before you ask something, identify the closeness of the person with you and make the request in correct form.
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We have written a lot of articles about the English Grammar and its usage. We have got a few requests asking to tell more about spoken English. So, in this article, I would like to talk about two common mistakes made by even the native English speakers. English language is very tricky and it is tough to master it because most of the English words which appear to be correct while speaking but are incorrect when put on the paper. The English spoken by non-native English people overlaps with their local language and thus results in the improper usage of English. While speaking, making others o understand what you want to convey is important while writing the same should also take care of grammar, punctuations, proper usage of terms.
