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How to be more polite in English!

Do you find it easy making requests in English? Or asking for information?

Do people sometimes look at you strangely even when you’re using perfect English?

It could be that your questions are a little bit toooooo direct for the native speaker. But what does that mean?

Look at these two questions:

1. Where’s the nearest bus station?

2. Do you know where the nearest bus station is?

Which question sounds more polite?

Number 2?

Correct! But do you know why? Find out tomorrow in our mini travel grammar workshop!!

 

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Answer: Because it uses an indirect question form.

By Jenny Bedwell on 2011 09 13

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Jessie - Singapore

Jessie - Singapore

Hey Jenny and Nigel. I just got my results. I took the ielts academic module on 6 september 2014 and I finally got what I wanted, which is a minimum band 7 in each of the components. I had 8.5, 8, 7.5 and 7.5 for listening, reading, writing and speaking respectively. I am over the moon! I took the exam 3 times and in the previous attempts, I only managed to get 6.5 for the writing module. Thank you so much for your assistance in vetting through my essays and giving such valuable feedback. Thank You Thank You!

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