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Tenacious Learner Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Question on an explanation

Hi teachers,
I have these two sentences beginning with, 'Would you ...?; Could you ...?'
a) Would you get me an iced coffee?
b) Could you hurry, please?
Would the following explanation 'Formal expressions used to ask a person something with good manners even if they are friends.', be enough for utter beginners?
I think, at that level it will be complicated to explain the differences between, 'Could you ...? (if you are able) and Would you ...? (if you are willing)'.

What's your opinion?

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

These overlap in usage. " slightly more deferential. g.

— GPY

  • These overlap in usage.
  • " slightly more deferential.
  • g.
  • tone of voice) can have a greater influence on this aspect.
  • These are not "formal expressions".
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4 Answers
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These overlap in usage. All other things being equal, "Would you...?" can sound slightly more demanding and "Could you...?" slightly more deferential. However, other contextual factors (e.g. tone of voice) can have a greater influence on this aspect. These are not "formal expressions". They may be fairly polite or quite abrupt, depending, again, on tone of voice, whether the word "please" is also
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Hi GPY,
Thanks a lot for your explanations. They have really helped me and my students.Emotion: smile

TL
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Tenacious Learnera) Would you get me an iced coffee?b) Could you hurry, please?Would the following explanation 'Formal expressions used to ask a person something with good manners even if they are friends.', be enough for utter beginners?
Yes, but (as mentioned above) those expressions aren't really so formal.

'could' is more indirect, and therefore m
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Hi Jim,
Thanks a lot for your interest.
CalifJimI mention this for you, not for your students.
Thanks for this and not the last, private lesson!
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