hi there this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced English lessons with Harry where we Tred to help you to get a better understanding of the English language to help you with your grammar vocabulary use of Expressions phrasal verbs idiomatic expressions whatever it is or if it's just simply to improve your conversation English your business English you know where to come you know where we are and if you have any questions any issues then you can contact me www.english Lon Vias skype.com so in this particular particular lesson this Advanced lesson we're looking at ways to say things politely how to ask for something politely in English so Advanced ways in which you can ask for something politely in English so I'll give you the particular way in which you can ask politely and I'll give you an example of how to use it okay so let's get started first can you so we can use this way for lots of ways can you get me new plate so you're sitting in a a restaurant and the plate in front of you is dirty so rather than just you know sticking your hand up and waving to the waiter or the waitress when they come past you you might say sorry can you please get me a clean plate or can you please get me a knife and fork or a spoon so can you and you can use that in a polite way and a lot of it is to do with the intonation also in your voice can you please I'm sorry to ask can you please or would you kind L pass me the salt would you kindly bring me a glass of water so would you would you kindly would you kindly pass me the salt would you kindly bring me a bottle of water would you mind telling me where the nearest bank is would you mind if I asked you a question so again we're being very very polite in the way we can bring these situations up number three do you think you could do you think you could make the meeting a little earlier because I have to leave to pick my children up from school do you think you could copy those slides to me later I would really appreciate it do you think you could drop me to the train station on your way home my car is in the garage and I need to get that uh train at 6:00 otherwise I'm going to be late do you think you could number four would you consider cancelling or postponing the launch for another few days until I'm able to finish that research yeah would you consider would you consider inviting spouses to the party as well I think their people would really appreciate it if their Partners were invited to the party also would you consider so not I want or I need or you should so we're just trying to be a little bit more polite so would you consider number five I wonder or I was wondering you can use either way I wonder I was wondering if you could cancel the meeting on Friday or bring it forward to Thursday because I've got a day off on Friday or I'm hoping to have a day off on Friday so I was wondering if we could or I wonder if we could postpone the meeting until next week i' be away for the weekend and I don't really want to miss the meeting and I don't think i' have the time to prepare everything in advance so if we could postpone the meeting until next week it would really really help me so I was wondering if or I wonder if so both of them are uh useful okay number six we can say you couldn't do something or could you so you couldn't and then let me give you the in between that so the beginning of it is you couldn't and the ending is could you you couldn't pass me the salt could you you couldn't get me a seat at the window could you you couldn't drop into my office on your way to lunch could you so the beginning nice and polite you couldn't and the ending just as polite could you you couldn't drop into my office on your way to lunch could you I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you and if you do like this particular lesson then please like the video and subscribe to the channel because it really really helps number seven now here we just have to be careful that how we use the verb after this do you mind sending me a message when you get there so you might say that to your children or you might say it to your spouse do you mind sending me a message when you get there do you mind calling me later to re to remind me about the meeting do you mind sending send me a message uh by WhatsApp so that I don't forget so do you mind sending uh do you mind calling so it's always do you mind plus the verb using the ining or would you mind dropping me off at the railway station on your way home would you mind calling down to my office on your way to lunch would you mind canceling the meeting would you mind arrang in that um dental appointment for tomorrow not for today so all of those would you mind and it's followed by the verb but using ing so would you mind cancelling would you mind calling would you mind removing would you mind changing yeah all of that would you mind followed by a verb but with that ining number nine could you could you please tell me the time could you please direct me to the nearest police station could you please show me where the hotel is could you please tell me what time dinner is served so very very simple very simple way but very polite way of asking somebody in English for something very polite and it almost guarantee that somebody will help you and will assist you and then number 10 would it be okay if okay so would it be okay if I left the office a little earlier would it be okay if I asked you to complete that report by lunchtime tomorrow would it be okay if you could drop the kids off to school on your way to work I'm busy would it be okay if we got a takeaway tonight I'm absolutely exhausted and I don't have time to go to the supermarket so lots of ways in which we can be very friendly very polite and almost certain guaranteed that we'll get a nice polite friendly response now there are lots of answers that people can give when you're being friendly and polite so for example when we want to say a yes answer so somebody if you ask for something you know could you drop me off at the railway station ah not at all so that means yes not at all so be careful here it sounds negative but it's actually a positive would you mind canceling in the meeting not at all don't worry it's not so important we don't have to have it on Friday we can have it on Monday or even Tuesday if you prefer so not at all or simply which people use a lot these days no problem yeah can we postpone the meeting until the afternoon no problem can you call up the dentist and uh put my appointment back for a couple of days no problem or a little bit more uh formal I'd be glad to I'd be happy to okay so no problem not at all I'd be glad to I'd be happy to or really formal my pleasure yeah so when somebody says oh you're really really great thanks for putting the meeting back my pleasure I'm happy to help my pleasure so nice positive yes responses to people's polite requests for something so not at all no problem I'd be glad to I'd be happy to my pleasure so some formal some less formal and then possible no answers and these might be given with a reason so for example if you're asking the boss could you please postpone that meeting until Monday look I'm sorry I would really like to help you but you know my boss is coming as well and you know he's a really busy guy and this is the only time that suits him so I'll get somebody to copy you with the minute so I'm sorry but or I would love to drop you to the station but I'm actually not going home tonight I've got a meeting in town so I won't be going home till till much later but Mike he's going that way I know he goes that way every evening so why don't you ask him I would love to but yeah oh I'm sorry I can't because so you know you your partner asks you to drop the kids off at school and on your way to work you said oh I'm sorry but I can't because I have to go in really early this morning the boss has called called an emergency meeting to do with that new marketing plan and I really have to be there yeah so um I I can do it tomorrow but not today so I'm sorry but I can't because so you're all the time giving a negative an answer a no but you're giving a reason why so it's not just simply no okay so it's equally as polite and equally as important to be polite with the answer as it is with the question so if you have to say no give a reason why you have to say no and if you are saying yes well of course that is in itself much better because people like to get a yes uh response but you can say it in different ways like no not at all and that's that is positive not at no not at all no problem I'd be glad to be happy to and my pleasure but if you do have to say no then please try to give a reason why I'm sorry but I can't postpone the meeting because my boss is coming as well I would love to drop you off at the station but I'm not going that way this evening I've actually got a meeting in the city center or I'm sorry I can't drop the kids to school this morning because the boss has called a really early meeting but I can do it no no problems okay so all ways in which you can be polite to ask somebody for something and then you can be polite in the way you answer either yes or no okay so try to practice those try to use them in your speech it's not so difficult indirect and direct questions are a tricky area but particularly in British English British native people are usually a little bit more reserved and therefore less direct and less indirect so if you ask indirect questions they will come across much much more polite and you're much more likely to get the sort of answer and the help that you want to get okay so that's the end of this particular lesson I hope you've enjoyed it if you need to contact me then you can do so on www.english lonv skype.com make sure you watch out for the next lesson thanks for listening to this one join me again soon