Would you mind reading this, please?

The meaning is the same in both sentences, but with 'could' the speaker sounds a little less sure of the answer and this makes the request sound ... Skiptocontent byKateWoodford It’softensaidthatnativeEnglishspeakersusealotof‘softeners’intheirlanguage– thosewordsandphraseswhichmakeussoundnicerandmorepolite,(eveniftheyhaveverylittleactualmeaning).Thisweekwe’retakingalookatsoftenersandthesortofsituationsinwhichweoftenusethem. Anobviousplacetostartisrequesting–askingpolitelyforthingsorforhelp.(It’sobviouslyagoodideatosoundpoliteandpleasantifyouwantsomethingfromsomeone!)Thereareseveralwaystomakeitcleartosomeonethatyouarerequestingsomethingandnotdemandingit.CouldItakethischair,please?soundsjustalittlebitnicerthanCanItakethischair,please?Themeaningisthesameinbothsentences,butwith‘could’thespeakersoundsalittlelesssureoftheanswerandthismakestherequestsoundmorepolite.Ifyouaddtheword‘possibly’tothisphrase,yousoundevenmorepolite: CouldIpossiblyborrowthisumbrella? Anotherwayof‘softening’(=makingnicer)arequestforsomethingistousetheslightlymorecomplicatedphrase,Doyoumind…?: DoyoumindifIturnthemusicdown? Doyoumindtakingthesedownstairs,please? Tobeevenmorepolite,youmightsay,Wouldyoumind…?(‘Would’soundsalittlelesssurethan‘do’): WouldyoumindifIturnedthemusicdown? Wouldyoumindhelpingmewiththeseboxes,please? Notethepasttense‘turned’inthefirstexample.(DoyoumindifIturn…?/WouldyoumindifIturned…?) Anothersoftenerthatisoftenusedwhenrequestingsomethingisthewordjust.‘Just’makesarequestsoundasifitisonlyalittlethingthatyouareaskingfor: CouldIjustaskyoutomoveyourchair,please? CouldIjusttakethisbook,please? Peopleatworkwhoareaskingcustomers/patients,etc.todothingsobviouslyneedtosoundpolite.Asofteneroftenusedwithrequestsinthistypeofsituationisthephrase‘forme’.Itcomesattheendofthesentence: Nurse:Couldyoujustrollyoursleeveupforme? Personinabank:Couldyousignyournamethereforme? ‘Atall’isanother‘softening’phraseusedinworksituations.Peopleoftenuseitwhenmakingenquiriesofthe‘Haveyougotx’?type.Thephrasehasabsolutelynomeaningusedinthisway,butseemstomakethespeakerlessembarrassedaboutaskingacompletestrangeradirectquestion: Haveyougotayearlypassatall? Doyouhaveamembers’cardatall? Ofcourse,peoplealsousesoftenerstopolitelyrefuserequests.Themostcommonsoftenerwhensayingnoisanapology.Itusuallycomesatthestartofthereply: I’msorry,we’reusingthatchair. I’mafraidweneedthosebooks. Twoothersoftenersthatpeopleoftenuseinthissituationare‘Actually…’and‘Ifyoudon’tmind…’. Again,theyhavelittlerealmeaning,buttheydo‘soften’therefusal,makingitsoundalittlenicer: Q:Haveyougotamoment,Ian–Ineedtoaskyouaboutsomething. A:Actually,I’mabitbusyatthemoment.Couldwespeakthisafternoon? A:Ifyoudon’tmind,I’mabitbusyatthemoment.Couldyoumanagethisafternoonatsomepoint?  Thisweekwehavelookedatsoftenersusedinrequestsandrefusals.Nextweekwewilllookatsoftenersusedwhendisagreeing.         Sharethis:ClicktoshareonFacebook(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonTwitter(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonReddit(Opensinnewwindow)Clicktoemailthistoafriend(Opensinnewwindow)Clicktoprint(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonLinkedIn(Opensinnewwindow)ClicktoshareonPinterest(Opensinnewwindow)Likethis:LikeLoading... Postnavigation PreviousNewwords–28April2014NextNewwords–5May2014 25thoughtson“Wouldyoumindreadingthis,please?” Doestheexpression.atallintheexampleabovesoundslikebyanychance? Loading... April30,2014at4:21pm Reply IlikelearnenglishbutIdon’tknowhow? Loading... April30,2014at4:24pm Reply TheonlythingthatIcansayis,areallybig”ThankYou”. Wouldyoumindsharingmorelessonsplease? Loading... March7,2019at12:04pm Reply RebloggedthisonSearcher. Loading... April30,2014at10:31pm Reply Inthesouthweusealotofsofteners,sweetie,shug,sayitagain🙂 Loading... May1,2014at1:49am Reply Thisisanotherstrategy,especiallycommonintheUS:addressingapersoninafriendly,informalmanner:“Honey,doyouneedthatchair?”Orasafamoussonghasit,“Buddy,canyouspareadime?”Thesamegoesforrefusals:“Sorry,beautiful,butIcan’tletyouinwithoutaticket.” Thelatterreflectsanotherstrategy:combineacomplimentwitharequest:“Thoseflowersaregorgeous,butcouldyouholdtheminyourlapsoIcansitinthatchair?”Or“Iloveyourhat,butcouldyoupleaseremoveitsothatIcanseethestage?” Loading... May1,2014at5:41am Reply Ilearntalotoffromthisthankuverymuch Loading... May1,2014at2:41am Reply Thanksforyourknowledgesir, Loading... May1,2014at5:56am Reply Pingback:Wouldyoumindterriblyif…|LC1LC2 politeness=kindness/empathy Loading... May4,2014at7:19am Reply Pingback:Wouldyoumindreadingthis,please?|Tuyentranslate Thanksalot.It’sreallyagreatwaytolearnEnglish. Loading... May23,2014at10:54am Reply GoodarticlethatI’llgivetomystudents,butI’msurprised:youdon’tgivedictionarylinkstoanyofthesofteningwordsorphrases(except“possibly”).Ifeeladdingthoselinkswouldbeagreatimprovement. Loading... July8,2014at2:35pm Reply Pingback:Cáchgiaotiếplịchsự:Yêucầuvàtừchốiyêucầu|LUYỆNTIẾNGANH Helloeverybody!Ihavereadsomeoftheinformationtextsyouuploaded,andIfoundthemreallyinterestingandusefull.Theyhelpedmetoimprovemygrammarandalsomyvocabularyskillsl.Ihavetothankyouforgiveussuchanexcellentmaterial.NextThursdayIamgoingtotakeanadmissionexaminationforacourseIwouldliketodo,sothatwouldyoumindhelpingmewithsomematerialaboutEducationoftheEnglishLanguageandEducationingeneral?Thesewillbethetopicsoftheexam,Iwaslookinginformationaboutthembuticouldn’tfindanythinginteresting.Thanksagain. Loading... February24,2015at4:09am Reply Rebloggedthisonpremkumar131'sBlog. Loading... March27,2015at10:32am Reply ienjoyedtheinfo. Loading... June3,2015at8:10pm Reply Thankyou.Thisarticlehelpsmeknowalot. Loading... June9,2015at11:24am Reply whaticanreplyfortheQuestion”wouldyouminddoingit?” Loading... July5,2015at5:21pm Reply Ashok,goodquestion!Thesedays,apositivereplyisfairlystandard,so‘Sure’,‘Ofcourse.’‘Yes,ofcourse.’etc.areallfine.Strictlyspeaking,inordertosayyes,thequestion‘Wouldyoumind..’wouldseemtorequireanegativeie‘WouldyoumindgivingthistoMaria?’‘Notatall.’butmostpeopledon’tbotherwiththisnowadays.Allthebest,Kate Loading... July8,2015at10:12am Reply Pingback:Words,wordswords|VictoriaKingston Pingback:Phrasesandpragmatics|ELTInfodump Usefularticletohelplearnersunderstandinghowtoaskforhelpinpoliteway. Loading... September22,2017at3:28pm Reply Thankyou.Veryhelpful. Loading... 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