politeness

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1. Lend me your bike.
2. I want you tolend me your bike.
3. Will you lend me your bike?
4. Can you lend me your bike?
5. Would you mind lending me your bike?
6. Could you possibly lend me your bike?
In the six sentences, the degree of politeness is from less polite to more polite. The first sentence is the least polite one while the last sentence is the most polite one.
There are some other sentences. Do you have any subtle differences in terms of politeness? Thank you!
7. I was wondering if you could/would lend me your bike.
8. Would it be possible for you to lend me your bike?
9. Would you be so kind as to lend me your bike.
10. Would you be kind enought to lend me your bike?
11. I wonder if you would mind lending me your bike?
12. I would appreciate it if you would/could lend me you bike.

Thank you!

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Type: Question • Score: 10 • Views: 8,636 • Replies: 72

@ziawj2,

On #s 7 through 12, the politeness is about the same. Use number 12. It asks for the use of the bike. The others are all speculating about some future possibility.

2 Replies

@ziawj2,

The word "please" is missing from #s 7-12 and I think this is a significant omission.

I would never ask for a loan of something without saying please.

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@ziawj2,

To me "lend" seems very formal. If I were asking I'd go with "May I borrow your bike?"

1 Reply

@roger,

Quote:

Use number 12. It asks for the use of the bike. The others are all speculating about some future possibility.

False, Roger, absolutely, totally and completely false.

To show greater politeness, greater deference, English speakers use more words. Wordiness means politeness.

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@ziawj2,

I was wondering if it might be possible for you to lend me your bike.

Might you consider lending me your bike?

Might you consider the possibility of me using/borrowing your bike?

...

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I'd more or less go with engineer, except "may" really isn't used very often. "Can I borrow your bike, please" or "Can I please borrow your bike".

1 Reply

Or "Hey, bro, lend me your bike."

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@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

"may" really isn't used very often.

It is quite common in British English, especially among older, more educated people. When I started school, if you asked the teacher "Can I be excused?", she would say "You can, but you may not."

1 Reply

@engineer,

engineer wrote:

To me "lend" seems very formal. If I were asking I'd go with "May I borrow your bike?"

"Lend" is neither more nor less formal than "borrow".

2 Replies

@contrex,

Yours to lend....mine to borrow.

1 Reply

@nextone,

nextone wrote:

Yours to lend....mine to borrow.

Exactly the point I was making.

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@contrex,

Quote:

It is quite common in British English, especially among older, more educated people.

It's ironic that these "more educated" people are so ignorant, C, but when it comes to how English works that's certainly been the case.

Quote:

When I started school, if you asked the teacher "Can I be excused?", she would say "You can, but you may not."

More prescriptive poppycock. I hope that you don't teach this nonsense to your students.

2 Replies

Thank you for your advice.
#9 through 11 are not used very commonly in English, aren't they?

1 Reply

@contrex,

Quote:

"Lend" is neither more nor less formal than "borrow".

Agreed, as isolated words.

But my guess is that a corpus study, though I have nothing to back it, may well show 'lend' appearing more frequently in formal collocations than 'borrow'.

Maybe this is what E was thinking of.

1 Reply

@ziawj2,

Quote:

#9 through 11 are not [-] used very commonly in English, aren't [-] they?

When using normal neutral tag questions, Ziawj, a negative statement has a positive tag attached and a positive statement has a negative tag attached.

You have two negatives above. Yours should be,

#9 through 11 are not used very commonly in English, are [+] they?

As to the substance of your question, you are right, but that's only because very formal situations/highly deferential situations are not all that common.

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Despite JTT's continuing championship for the corruption of the English tongue, I agree completely with contrex's two posts regarding "can" and "may' and the relationship between "lend" and "borrow."

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

Quote:

I agree completely with contrex's two posts regarding "can" and "may'

Contrex didn't say he was full of **** on this one, Merry, but you sure have. You are completely full of ****. But please, take the time to show us how this old canard has any merit.

Quote:

and the relationship between "lend" and "borrow."

Nothing I said regarding 'lend' and 'borrow' in any way disputed what C or Nextone said. Please, Merry, if you're this bloody incompetent, best you sit on the sidelines.

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Gimme dat bike!!

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@roger,

Quote:

On #s 7 through 12, the politeness is about the same. Use number 12. It asks for the use of the bike. The others are all speculating about some future possibility.

This is a fine illustration of the looniness that has been taught to American students regarding language.

There's not a native speaker on the planet, who upon hearing 7 to 11 would consider that it wasn't the same type of polite request for the use of someone's bike.

Roger even notes this himself - "On #s 7 through 12, the politeness is about the same".

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