Transcription
It is time to improve your English speaking skill. In this time, we're going to learn how to make requests in English and how to accept or reject them.
Hello, my name is Maddie from POC English, and in this lesson, we're going to learn how to make requests and how to accept or reject them. So, this video is going to be in two different parts. The first part will be about different ways of making requests in English, and the second part will be different ways of accepting or rejecting a request. Plus, I will show you lots of mini dialogues so that you will see how to use the new structures.
Let's start with the first part, different ways of making requests. And the first way of making requests in English is to use imperative sentences. What is an imperative sentence? Look at these examples: Bring me a glass of water. Give me a pan. Or subscribe to my channel. Look at these three sentences. They all begin with a verb. These are examples of imperative sentences. An imperative sentence is used to command or to make a request. Imperative sentences begin with a verb: Close the door. Open your books. Turn off the light. Using imperative sentences for requests can be the easiest way and, at the same time, the rudest way. Let me show you a few examples: Close the door, please. Be quiet. Don't make any noise. Also, turn off the TV and don't ever touch my phone.
Okay, how can we make our requests more formal and more polite? Let's start the sentence with "can" and say "Can you?" Can you answer the phone, please? Can you call me this afternoon? Can you get me a cup of coffee? All of these questions begin with "Can you" plus the base form of the verb. To make it even more polite, you can say "Can you please" and then the base form of the verb: Can you please answer the phone? Can you please call me this afternoon? Can you please get me a cup of coffee? Let me show you some other examples: Can you please water the plants? Uh, can you please get me some water? Uh, can you please help me with my homework?
Want to make this even more formal? Instead of "can," use "could." Now, pay attention. "Could" is the past of "can," but when we use "could" for requests, this doesn't make the sentence simple past. No, no, no. The sentence is still present, but a polite request. It's more polite and more formal than "Can you please." Could you please answer the phone? Could you please call me this afternoon? Could you please get me a cup of coffee? How do you make this? It's very easy: "Could you" or "Could you please" plus the base form of the verb. Could you please subscribe to my channel? Let me show you some other examples: Could you please turn the volume up? Uh, listen. Could you please speak up? I cannot hear you well. Uh, could you please clean up the table?
Want to make this even more polite and more formal? Yes, that's possible. Instead of "could," use "will." "Will you please?" Will you please bring me a glass of water? Will you please give me a pen? Will you please subscribe to my channel? How to make this sentence? Very easy. Start it with "Will you" or "Will you please" and the base form of the verb. Let me show you some other examples: Will you please turn down the volume? Will you please bring me a glass of water? Oh my God. Will you please clean up your room?
Guess what? I want to make it even more polite and more formal. How? Instead of "will," use "would." "Would you please?" Would you please answer the phone? Would you please call me this afternoon? Would you please get me a cup of coffee? So, start your sentence with "Would you please" and then the base form of the verb. Would you please water the plants? Let me show you some other examples: Would you please help me with my homework? Would you please get me a cup of coffee? Would you please scratch my back?
We can use "would you" in another way: "Would you mind" plus verb in the "-ing" form. "Would you mind verbing?" Again, this is very polite and very formal. Would you mind answering the phone, please? Would you mind turning down the volume? Would you mind opening the windows? Pay attention to the structure: "Would you mind" plus verb. Pay attention to the structure of this sentence: "Would you mind" plus verb in the "-ing" form. And here's a pronunciation point for "would you." When "d" reaches "y," we usually pronounce it as "j." So, instead of "would you," you say "would you." Would you? Would you please subscribe to my channel? Let me show you some other examples: Well, would you mind closing the window? Would you mind answering the phone? Would you mind getting the door?
And that was the first part of this video, learning different ways of making requests in English, from the least formal to the most formal. Now, it is time to move on to the second part of this lesson. But before that, if you want to receive the summary of this lesson and all other lessons that I post on YouTube in a single PDF file so that you can review the lesson whenever you want, you simply have to subscribe to my mailing list. It's for free. How? Click on the link above my head, this side of the video. Go to my website, enter your email address, and click subscribe. That's it. When the summary of the lesson is available and ready, I will send it to your email address.
Alright, now let's move on to the second part of this lesson, learning different ways of accepting or rejecting a request. If you want to accept a request, for example, somebody asked you to open the window, and when you want to say "okay," here are a few ways you can say: "Sure" or "Sure thing." You can say "No problem." You can also say "Of course," or a very interesting one, which I really like, you can say "Consider it done." So, to accept a request, you can say "Sure" or "Sure thing," "No problem," "Of course," or "Consider it done."
Could you please answer the phone? Sure thing.
Can you turn the volume down? No problem.
Will you help me with my homework? Of course.
Would you call her tonight? Consider it done.
Well, there are many different ways of rejecting a request and saying no. I'm going to divide them into informal, semi-formal, and formal. If you want to reject a request in an informal way, for example, when your friends ask you to do something and you want to say it's not going to happen, you can use these phrases. You can say "No way." "No way," which means I am not going to do that, my friend. You could also say "That's not gonna happen." "That's not gonna happen." And you can say "In your dreams." "In your dreams." Let me show you some examples:
Can you answer the phone? No way.
Hey, turn the volume down. That's not gonna happen.
Go get me a cup of coffee. In your dreams.
A very easy way of rejecting a request is to say "no." But saying "no" alone, it's kind of awkward, right? You want to come up with some explanation why you are rejecting the request. So, you can use these two semi-formal structures after "no." So, you can say "No, but..." or "It's just that..." "It's just that," and then you come up with a reason. Or you can say "No, the thing is..." and then you come up with the explanation. "No, it's just that..." "No, the thing is..." Let me show you some examples:
Hey, turn the volume down. Uh, no, it's just that this is my favorite show.
Will you close the windows up? No, the thing is, I'm actually hot.
What if you want to say no and reject a request, but in a formal way? In this case, you can use this phrase: "I'm afraid." For example, "I'm afraid not." "I'm afraid I can't." "I'm afraid I can't do this." Or you could say "I'm sorry, but..." and then come up with the explanation. "I'm sorry, but I can't close the windows because it's too hot in here." Let me show you some other examples:
Would you mind helping me with my homework? I'm afraid I can't. I'm kind of busy myself.
Will you please open the window? I'm sorry, but I'm kind of cold myself.
And that's it, guys. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson. Don't forget to practice speaking in English. See ya.
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