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Formality and Politeness in Business Requests

The document discusses formal and polite language for business requests. It provides examples of request phrases ranging from informal to very formal. While the most formal phrases may be too much for most business communications, polite yet direct language is suitable for business emails. Closing with 'Thanks' or 'Thanks in advance' is appropriate.

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31 views

Formality and Politeness in Business Requests

The document discusses formal and polite language for business requests. It provides examples of request phrases ranging from informal to very formal. While the most formal phrases may be too much for most business communications, polite yet direct language is suitable for business emails. Closing with 'Thanks' or 'Thanks in advance' is appropriate.

Uploaded by

shilpadub
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Formality and politeness in business requests Which of each pair of requests below are more formal or polite and

why? Any assistance you could give me in this matter would be gratefully accepted./ Any help at all would be much appreciated. Can you?/ Could you? Could you?/ Could you possibly? Could you?/ Could you give me a hand with? Hope thats okay./ Is that alright? I have a favour to ask you. / I have a request (for you). Can you?/ Id like to request I need some help with/ I need a hand with I was wondering if you would be able to/ Could you? I would be very grateful if you could/ Could you? If youre not too busy,/ Do you have time to? Thanks in advance./ Thanks. Theres something I think you can help me with. / I need your help with Would it be possible for you to?/ Could you? Would you minding ()?/ You dont mind ..ing () (for me), do you? If, that would be a great help./ Help!

What are the general rules/ patterns of politeness and formality? Which are the very most formal/ polite above? Are they too much for your typical business communications? Does that depend on whether you are writing or speaking? Which of the above are most suitable for your average business emails? Which of the above are good closing lines for those emails? None of the phrases below are acceptable requests language in most situations. Why not? Would you? Thank you for your cooperation. Please + verb We would appreciate your help in What paragraph structure and opening lines might you use for your emails making requests?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com 2012

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