Sometime students make mistakes with usage
not form. That means they’re saying
everything correctly, but the structures aren’t right for the situation. They are not appropriate. In this lesson, we’re going to talk about
making request.
And we’re going to make sure that you
choose right form of request for the given situation. [see
screen]
I’d like to demonstrate my point and
show you that it’s not always what you say, but how you say it that can be rude
or polite. Let’s start with the command.
I’m going to say it in two ways: listen
to the difference. Go home (rude)! Go home (polite)! The first way could be said to a person who
came to a party of mine uninvited. Now
they’re behaving badly, and I want this person out of my house. I say, Go home (rude)! The second way could be said to a co-worker
whose at the office very late working long hours and I worried about the
person. I think they should go home and rest.
So I say, Go home (polite)! Hear
the difference?
OK, now, let’s take a request, we’ll
use the question, “Will you please open the door?” Listen to the two different ways: First way,
Will you please open the door (rude)?
Second way, Will you please open the door (polite)? The first way could be said to a family
member, your brother, your sister, they’re standing near the door, they see you
with lots of bags and they’re just looking at you. Maybe they’re being funny, maybe they are
being lazy, either way it annoys you. So
you would say, Will you please open the door (rude)? The second way, you could say to a stranger,
you still have the heavy bags and you can’t open the door easily, you need some
help. You want to ask a stranger to
assist you, you’d say, Will you please open the door (polite)? Get the difference? [see screen]
Let’s pause for an exercise. [see screen]
That’s the end of the part 1. Be sure to check out the parts 2 and 3.