 What do you say? What do you say? What do you say? Making requests in English. What do you say when you want someone else to do something for you? Well, it depends on the situation. There are lots of ways to make requests in English. Let's see how well you can handle these scenarios. Here are some situations for practicing English phrases for conversation. Requesting Situation 1 You are carrying some boxes and need someone to open the door for you. What do you say? A. Could you help me to open the door? B. Would you mind to open the door? C. Could you open the door, please? D. Why don't you open the door? What do you say? Think about it. Situation 1. Analysis For each of these situations, we will highlight the best answer and give a natural response to it. We will also say what is wrong with the other answers. The best answer is C. Could you open the door, please? Sure, I'd be glad to. What's wrong with the other answers? A. Could you help me to open the door? That's too wordy. Also, the word help doesn't work here. Help usually means you're doing something with someone. Here you want someone to do something for you. B. Would you mind to open the door? The grammar is incorrect. Would you mind opening the door? D. Why don't you open the door? It sounds kind of rude, like what's wrong with you. Situation 2 You are working on a project and need to use the scissors, which are across the table near your co-worker. What do you say? A. Please hand me the scissors. B. I want the scissors now. C. I might need the scissors. D. You should give me the scissors. Analysis The best answer is A. Please hand me the scissors. OK, here they are. What's wrong with the others? I want the scissors now. This is impolite. It sounds very demanding. I might need the scissors. Huh? You need to be more assertive. Tell what you want. More directly. D. You should give me the scissors. This sounds rude. Don't tell me what to do. Ready for the next one? Situation 3 You need a ride to the grocery store. Your friend is heading that way. What do you say? A. Could you taking me to the grocery store? B. Would you ride me to the grocery store? C. Would you give a lift to the grocery store? D. Could you possibly take me to the grocery store? Analysis The best answer is D. Could you possibly take me to the grocery store? Sure. I'd be happy to. What's wrong with the others? Could you taking me to the grocery store? The grammar is incorrect. Should be could you take me? B. Would you ride me to the grocery store? This is wrong usage of the word ride. It doesn't work here. You'd have to say could you give me a ride to the grocery store? C. Would you give a lift to the grocery store? The expression is incorrect here. It should be give me a lift. Question 4. You're almost freezing in your office. Someone is near the thermostat. What do you say? A. Could you close the air conditioner? B. Can you turn down the air conditioner? C. Will you stop at the air conditioner? D. Will you reduce the air conditioner? The best answer is B. Can you turn down the air conditioner? Of course. It's too cold in here. What's wrong with the others? Can you close the air conditioner? This is the wrong word. It's a machine. You don't close machines. You turn them on or turn them off. Turn them up or turn them down. C. Will you stop at the air conditioner? This has an extra word and it's extra wordy and it sounds kind of rude. Stop it. D. Will you reduce the air conditioner? Word choice. The word reduce is strange here. It sounds a little bit too formal and for machines we don't reduce them. We usually turn them on or off or up or down. Situation 5. You need to ask a favor of a close friend. What do you say? A. Could you favor for me? B. Could you do me a favor? C. Could I do you a favor? D. Could I ask of you a favor? A. Analysis. The best answer is B. Could you do me a favor? Sure. What is it? What's wrong with the others? Could you favor for me? This is very strange. It's missing a verb. Favor is not a verb in this case. Could I do you a favor? You want to help them or you want them to help you? Could I ask of you a favor? There's a problem with word order. Could I ask a favor of you? There's also a problem with formality here. Could I ask a favor of you is too formal for a situation with your close friend? Situation 6. Someone tried to throw a wad of paper into the trash can and missed. What do you say? A. Please, would you pick that up? B. Will you properly throw that away? C. Would you mind for me? Would you mind putting that in the trash? D. Put it in the waste paper basket, okay? The best answer is C. Would you mind putting that in the trash? Oops, I might have missed. Or I must have missed. What's wrong with the others? Please, would you pick that up? And do what with it? You need to be more specific. B. Will you properly throw that away? That sounds snobbish, like you're better than me when you use those kind of words in this situation. D. Put it in the waste paper basket, okay? Sounds a little rude. It's kind of like you're accusing me of doing something when it was probably just an accident. I didn't do it on purpose. Situation 7. Someone is blocking your view of the screen in the conference room. What do you say? A. Would you be so kind as to move over a little? B. Would you mind moving your body? C. You're blocking my view. Please move. D. I hate to tell you, but you need to move. Analysis. The best answer is A. Would you be so kind as to move over a little? No problem. Can you see better now? What's wrong with the other answers? Would you mind moving your body? Sounds strange. What do you want me to do? Dance? C. You're blocking my view. Please move. That's direct, but very rude. D. I hate to tell you, but you need to move. Too strong for this situation. Situation 8. You need the receptionist to give Mr. Paxson an important document. What do you say? Will you give to Mr. Paxson this paper? B. Give this document to Mr. Paxson now. C. I'm sorry. Mr. Paxson needs this today. D. Will you see that Mr. Paxson gets this? The best answer is D. Will you see that Mr. Paxson gets this? Sure. I'll give it to him right away. What's wrong with the others? A. Will you give to Mr. Paxson this paper? Something wrong with the grammar. We have an indirect object here. Will you give this paper to Mr. Paxson? Or will you give Mr. Paxson this paper? B. Give this document to Mr. Paxson now. It sounds very demanding. Be more polite. Even to receptionist and secretaries. You need to be polite to everyone. I'm sorry. Mr. Paxson needs this today. Don't apologize. You can be direct and ask them to do something. Request that they do something. It's their job to help you. Requesting. A review. There are several ways to make requests in English. Usually, longer is more formal and polite. Look at these examples. Open the door. Please open the door. The word please makes it more polite. Can you open the door? Will you open the door? What's the difference between can and will? Well, the formality is almost the same. Can means like, is it possible for you to do this? Will means like, are you willing to do this? The next ones would and could are more polite than can and will. Would you open the door? Could you possibly open the door? When you insert the word possibly, you're making it longer and a longer statement is usually more polite. Would you mind opening the door? Notice the grammar here. After would you mind, you have to have the ing form of the verb. Would you be so kind as to open the door? This is the longest one and it's the most polite. Always remember to consider the situation. For example, if there is a fire in the building, you probably would not say the last one. Would you be so kind as to open the door? You'd probably say, open the door! Because of the situation, you don't have to be as polite. If there's a fire or something like that. Your turn. Practice using English phrases in these situations. Talk to a partner, a friend, or your teacher. What do you say? You need a lift to the airport. What do you say? You want some help with your assignment. What do you say? You need someone to fix a problem with your computer. What do you say? You want someone to drop you off at your apartment. What do you say? You need some help carrying a huge pot of plant. What do you say? Think of your own situations. Role play with a partner. You can use the situations here or think of your own. Talk. It's your turn. Go ahead. Talk. Practice requesting, asking for help, and giving responses. Feel free to pause the video and take as much time as you need. Hope you enjoyed that. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up below. And remember to subscribe to our channel. 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