Could you call a taxi for me, please?
Would you ask Rose whether she has signed the card, please? Would you mind collecting my suit from the dry cleaner’s, please? Do you think you could come in ten minutes early tomorrow, before the presentation? We sometimes use can you and will you to make requests but they are more informal:
Mum, can you wake me at seven o’clock? Will you send me an email tomorrow just to remind me to book a hotel? We need is often used in work contexts by a boss or manager to ask for something to be done in a polite way:
We need to email the contract to Peter immediately. We need someone to go to the meeting in Paris on Wednesday. Bill can’t go. When we are not sure if someone will be able to do what we ask, we sometimes use you wouldn’t …, would you? or you couldn’t …, could you?:
You wouldn’t drop this into the post office for me, would you? You couldn’t stop at a bank machine, could you? In formal letters and formal emails, we can use the following expressions:
I would be grateful if you could send me more information about the course. We would be most grateful if you couldsend someone to meet us at the airport as we do not speak Japanese.
