Polite requests

Question

Could you please explain the differences between these three polite request?
Which one is more official, and which one official but friendly.

I would appreciate if you could ...
I would appreciate if you can ...
I would appreciate if you would ...

Hrsanei · Accepted Answer

Hi.

youzouCould you please explain the differences between these three polite requests?Which one is more official, and which one official but friendly.I would appreciate if you could ...I would appreciate if you can ...I would appreciate if you would ...

The first one sounds more formal to me. The third one is less formal, and the second one is wrong.
When you are using a nonreal present conditional structure, you should use past simple in the if clause.
Cheers
Hamid

Regards · Answer

Hi,

I'm afraid all those polite requests you have written are wrong: appreciate is a transitive verb.

I would appreciate it if you could / would...

Both could and would sound somewhat tentative to me and even polite, as you said nicely.

If you use this phrase in an appropriate context, you'll be understood and all will be well.

Regards

USF · Answer

Thanks.

And I want to ask something about would in this phrase.
I have felt a little odd about this phrase. I know the structure of unreal conditional. But using condition for asking for a favor is not understandable. My best guess is that we want to make way clear that we are imagining him/her help and we don't expect for a respond. Like "I was wondering ...". But then I would say: I appreciate it (

) if you could... why for appreciating we use imaginary modal. In this case, I would say for the sake of conditional structure.

Regards · Answer

Hi,

I think this thread may be of help to you:

appreciate it?

Regards

USF · Answer

Good one! Thanks, but could you give me an example that in which situations each of them are appropriate?
I would appreciate... and I appreciate...

Regards · Answer

Hi,

Here are two examples:

Thanks for helping me with this. I really appreciate it. [= I'm grateful to you for your help.]

I would appreciate it if you would tell her to join me for lunch. -- A polite request.

That's all for now.

Regards

USF · Answer

Thanks Regards.

But when you chilled out (is it a proper verb?) enough, I appreciate it if you could explain the situations that we use I appreciate for requests. For instance, I am contacting with professors from other universities. The first time I would use "I would appreciate it if you could..." for my request, but after getting along, I think being too formal is not good, so using "I appreciate" might be better. I need to be clear in context, in what kind of situations should I use the first structure and when should I use the second structure? This is not clear for me.

Polite requests

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