Can I Vs Could I?

“Can I” is best for semi-formal situations . “Could I” is best for semi-formal situations. “May I” is best for semi-formal situations. Which of these is only used with the pronouns “I” and “we” ?

Can I please or could I please?

Both are correct . The first is more direct, and the second is more polite. Could you please . . . gives slightly more room for refusal than Can you please . . .

Can I have or could I have?

For example, “Could I please have some water?” Could is the past tense of can. However, when asking for permission, could does not have a past tense meaning . Could has the same meaning as may when making requests. It is equally polite to say “Could I leave early?” or “May I leave early?”

Is it May I have or can I have?

The only difference between the two verbs is that one is more polite than the other. In informal contexts it’s perfectly acceptable to use can ; in formal situations it would be better to use may.

Is could you please rude?

-> They both are impolite. They both sound like a command/order. The first one is less rude than the second one. Could you please give us some context?

Is could you please a question?

A polite request can be made with an interrogative clause (‘Could you please pay us’), an imperative clause (‘Please pay us’), a declarative clause (‘We would appreciate it if you could pay us’), and so on. I use the words ‘question’ and ‘request’ and ‘statement’ as kinds of meaning, not terms of grammar.

Can and could grammar?

Can, like could and would, is used to ask a polite question , but can is only used to ask permission to do or say something (“Can I borrow your car?” “Can I get you something to drink?”). Could is the past tense of can, but it also has uses apart from that–and that is where the confusion lies.

How do you politely ask for a status update?

1. 1 Ask. Drop the “checking in” wind-up and ask for an update politely and directly. ...
2. 2 Open with context. ...
3. 3 Send a friendly reminder. ...
4. 4 Offer something of value. ...
5. 5 Reference a blog post they (or their company) published. ...
6. 6 Drop a name. ...
7. 7 Recommend an event you’re attending in their area.

Does please sound rude?

‘ was perhaps your grandmother’s way of saying ‘try to be polite. ‘ Yet while ‘thank you’ is still important to civilized discourse, I find that ‘please’ has almost the opposite effect in American English. It can make a question sound urgent, blunt, and even downright rude .

Which is correct I will or I would?

And English learners often get these two confused because they’re used in very similar situations. But they’re not the same. The main difference between will and would is that will is used for real possibilities while would is used for imagined situations in the future.

Would you or could you please?

But I would suppose that “would” is more polite , because it expresses the idea of probability, and of willingness, and of the desire that something be done, whereas “could” is more in the realm of ability (yes I can). And according to the American Heritage Dictionary, “would” is used to make a polite request.

Could you or can you or would you?

‘ Could You’ is used when someone has to do something. ‘Would You’ is used as “Would you like to have a cup of coffee before you leave?” which says a decent way of asking someone to have something or to do something. ‘Could You’ is used “Could you be more diligent while doing something?”.

Could sentences examples in English?

• People could do so much more for their community.
• I couldn’t have said it better myself.
• We could have left the party earlier.
• The girl was crying because she couldn’t find her parents.
• You could have stopped by the grocery store. We need some milk.
• I couldn’t have done it without you.

Could you or can you more polite?

To answer the question: “ could” definitely sounds slightly more polite than “can ” to a native speaker since it is less direct and more deferential as a result. “Could” is a form of “can”, so both are technically asking “are you able to...”. This is not the difference between the two.

Is could a past tense of can?

Could is used as the past tense of can when it means that someone had the ability to do something, or that something was possible: The Roman army could march 30 miles in a day.