"Could you please" vs "Could you kindly" - English Stack ...

I am a non-native speaker of English. When communicating with a professor, would it be better to use could you kindly send me the document or could you please ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore "Couldyouplease"vs"Couldyoukindly" AskQuestion Asked 9years,11monthsago Active 7years,5monthsago Viewed 805ktimes 32 15 Iamanon-nativespeakerofEnglish.Whencommunicatingwithaprofessor,woulditbebettertousecouldyoukindlysendmethedocumentorcouldyoupleasesendmethedocument?Iknowbotharecorrect,butwhichoneshowsmorerespect? word-choicepoliteness Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJan5'12at14:44 JSBձոգչ 53.3k1414goldbadges152152silverbadges207207bronzebadges askedDec31'11at5:27 nemoynemoy 44111goldbadge44silverbadges55bronzebadges 1 YoumightwanttocheckoutthesiteforEnglishLanguageLearners,too,incaseyouhaveanyfuturequestionsthatmaynotbeagoodfitforthissite. – J.R. Jul30'13at10:49 Addacomment  |  4Answers 4 Active Oldest Votes 26 Botharepolite,andnoreasonableprofessorwouldtakeobjectiontoeither.Ifyouwantedtosoundalittlemoreformal,youcouldsayIshouldbemostgratefulifyouwouldsendmethedocument. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec31'11at10:35 BarrieEnglandBarrieEngland 137k1010goldbadges230230silverbadges389389bronzebadges 5 Yes,andinanycase,areasonableprofessorisgoingtoallowfornon-nativeEnglishspeakers. – slim Jan5'12at14:47 1 Whydoyouuse"should"insteadof"would"atthebeginningofyoursentence? – MarchingHome Oct10'13at18:42 7 BecauseI'maspeakerofBritishEnglish. – BarrieEngland Oct10'13at18:46 1 IftheOPisspeakingtoanAmericanprofessor,itwouldprobablybebetterforhimtosay"Iwouldbemostgratefulifyouwouldsendmethedocument."I'manAmericanandIthinkBarrieEngland'ssentenceisalittlestrange-somemightinterprethissentenceas"Ishouldbemostgratefulifyouwouldsendmethedocument,butIwouldn'tbe." – pacoverflow Jul2'14at7:55 "Iwouldbegrateful"shouldbeconsideredincorrectforadifferentreason:tobegratefuldoesnotexpressapreferenceordesire,sotheuseofwouldwouldnotberedundant(asitiswithlike);howeverisitpossibleormeaningfultouseamoodofpreferenceordesireinregardtobeinggrateful?Thatis,doesitmakesensetosay"Iwishtobegrateful"?Ithinkordinarilyitdoesnot,so"Ishouldbegrateful"isthecorrectusageinthe"classic"system. – ASWINVENU Aug9'20at15:14 Addacomment  |  12 Iwouldpreferthewordpleaseinmoreformalcommunications.Kindlywouldbebetter-suitedforfamiliarenvironments. Also,Iwouldusetheword"would"insteadof"could." Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec31'11at10:21 TheGeeko61TheGeeko61 24111silverbadge44bronzebadges Addacomment  |  12 Ifyourprofessorknowsyou'renotanativeEnglishspeaker,heshouldbehappywitheitherofthose.Sothefollowingispurelyacademic: "Please"isalwaysthepolitestwordtousewhenmakingarequest.Itisneverwrong. TomyBritishears,thefollowingphraseshaveaveryslightlyharanguingtone(asofanaggingmother): Wouldyoukindly... Wouldyouplease... Couldyoukindly... Couldyouplease... Whereas"Pleasecouldyou..."isstraightforward,conventional,politeandubiquitous. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJun15'20at7:40 CommunityBot 1 answeredJan5'12at14:52 slimslim 9,98611goldbadge3333silverbadges5353bronzebadges Addacomment  |  2 Ipreferusingkindlyratherthanplease.Thelattersoundsmorelikebegging. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedOct10'13at17:41 RegDwigнt♦ 94.8k3737goldbadges303303silverbadges396396bronzebadges answeredOct10'13at16:57 ddmddm 6111bronzebadge 2 Ialsopreferkindly,insteadofpleaseforthesamereason.ButIamnotsurewhythisonegotsomuchdownvoted. – Sudar Mar27'14at0:03 @Sudarperhapsbecauseitisjustasubjectiveopinion(soundslikebegging)withnocitation. – nurettin Oct14'15at12:06 Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedword-choicepolitenessoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta UpcomingresponsiveActivitypage Reducingtheweightofourfooter Linked 14 What'sthedealwith"thankyoukindly"? 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