Timeline for polite request: We would ask
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14, 2020 at 14:58 | answer | added | chasly - supports Monica | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 14:54 | comment | added | Spagirl | @Lawrence so I see! :) | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 14:34 | comment | added | Lawrence | @Spagirl Done. :) | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 14:31 | answer | added | Lawrence | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 14:03 | comment | added | Spagirl | @Lawrence Yes, you've addressed most of it, though I still don't understand why you would put so much thought and effort and consideration into this but not tidy it up as an answer where it could be both permanent and upvoted. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 13:55 | comment | added | Lawrence | @Spagirl I hope I've addressed your comment above. I don't always pick up the unspoken question (and here's another that took some digging). We got there in the end with the other question, but trying to work it out via dialogue sometimes generates more heat than light :/ . It's always good communicating with you, I'd like you to know. But if I'm frustrating even you, maybe I need to take a bit of a break from the site. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 14:42 | comment | added | Lawrence | @Spagirl (About introducing the topic of politeness - I took my cue from the first word of the question's title "polite request: We would ask".) | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 14:37 | comment | added | Lawrence | @sig 'Would' (past tense of will) is often used for politeness, to pad out an otherwise curt statement such as "Clear the balance immediately". Can you please add more context to your quotes? Try 2 to 3 lines of dialogue to start with. "We would ask that you ..." sounds better than "We would ask you to ...", but depending on how the rest goes, it might work. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 14:33 | comment | added | Lawrence | @Spagirl Thanks for asking. At first glance, the OP has a point regarding "like". However, the first quote said softly with a smile could be considered polite; the second spoken harshly with a stern demeanor wouldn't be the epitome of customer relations. That's the gist of what I meant - the interpersonal aspect dominates this question. The language portion is simply the medium of communication, rather than the meat of the question itself. Having said that, you've pointed out something I missed: politeness was irrelevant to the question; it was 'correctness' that they were wondering about. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 14:13 | comment | added | Spagirl | @Lawrence I'm genuinely confused as to why you think this is IP rather than language usage. sig clearly states the phrase came from a book and they want to know if the usage is correct. This isn't on topic at IPS and the poor soul would probably be redirected back to here. Unless comments have been deleted it seems to be you who introduced the topic of politeness/rudeness, not the OP. You've said both are grammatical, couldn't you explain for him why the first is so? I would if I understood grammar well enough, and here you've spent all this time commenting and not shared the info sig seeks. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 12:14 | comment | added | Jeff Zeitlin | Either appears correct to me, but as an American, the first strikes me as being "more British", and the second "more American". It is even more likely that an American firm asking this in correspondence would write simply "Please clear this balance immediately." | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:54 | comment | added | Lawrence | In that case, the question should include more text that explains the point of interest. For example, you might list a few sentences that exclude the word "like" that demonstrate rudeness (explain why they would be considered rude), then list similar sentences that include the word "like" and demonstrate that these are considered to be polite. You can then ask why the context of the original quote (without "like") suggests that it was treated as polite. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:48 | comment | added | sig | I found the sentence in a book about English business correspondence (Unit: Reminders) I was wondering about the missing word "like" and thought it was a language question. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:46 | comment | added | Lawrence | ... You can get to the page from the "?" menu by clicking on the "Help Centre" menu item. Note that to access the appropriate page, you need to first land on a page in that community before clicking on the menu. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:43 | comment | added | Lawrence | It might not be apparent at first glance, but Stack Exchange sites are deliberately split into silos of information. The intention is to collate a database of questions about particular (broad) topics such as English, Maths, Programming, and so on, together with well-supported answers to those questions. The links in the "?" menu at the top of the page go into more depth, and the so-called 'hamburger' menu takes you to the various SE communities. Each community has a "What topics can I ask about here?" page that describes the kinds of questions that community is intended to collate. ... | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:39 | comment | added | Lawrence | I understand, and more context might help. But the issue doesn't seem to be about language - it's about social customs or manners. Both sentences are grammatical ("correct English", as you put it), and with the appropriate context, both can be polite requests. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:37 | comment | added | sig | Sorry: I found the following sentence in a book ... | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:35 | comment | added | Lawrence | For interpersonal relationships topics (as seems to be the central issue here), check out Interpersonal Skills. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 11:33 | history | asked | sig | CC BY-SA 4.0 |