Being polite in English : Part one

“Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Generally speaking,  people value being polite and respect good manners. A golden tip is that it is essential to utilize the three magical words of politeness in English :  “Please”, “Thank you,” and “Excuse me”.

Often, it is easy to simply say : ''What?'' as opposed to ''Excuse me?'' - my advice is that one should try to cultivate good habits through grading your communication style. 

• What kind of language do you use when something is unclear / when you do not understand the question or statement ? 

When something is unclear or you misheard - ''What!'', is inappropriate - instead, simply say : 

• ''Pardon me, I did not get that...''
•  ''Excuse me, I do not think I understood.'',
• ''Sorry, but could you repeat that ?''

It is common practice to say, ''Thank you.'' after your request has been fulfilled. 

Moving on, it is best practice when making an appointment, a reservation, scheduling a meeting and even requesting something from your teacher - to say/ use one of the following:  

• ''Please..........Thank you.''
• '' Would it be possible to___________.''
• ''May I please_________.''
• ''Could I arrange________. Thank you.''.
• I would like to _________ Thank you so much !''

Polite language goes a long way and will help you avoid any misunderstandings ! Notice how in English we use modal verbs such as ''could, would, May'' when making a polite request.  Being polite will make certain that service providers and co - workers want to help you with what you need ! 

Speaking tip: could and can are followed by the verb without to. 

When you would like to schedule a meeting, it is essential to provide a few days and times, so that everyone is able to fit into your time slot/ agenda. Some useful language:

• '' Would it be possible to meet on one of the following days:________''.
• ''I would like to schedule a meeting/ book an appointment - would one of the following days be suitable at ________ time?'' ( Provide days.)
•  '' How are you? / I trust all is well? I was wondering if we could move our appointment to another day - how about one of the following days:_________.'' ( In some cases, especially with regards to English lessons - regular classes are a prerequisite to improvement, so - rescheduling after a missed class is wise and fair for both the teacher and yourself ! )
•  ''I can not make it today because _______, could we meet later this week - maybe on ______ ( provide day.) or _________( provide day.) at __________( provide a few times.) 

More polite language tips/ expressions:

To maintain good relationships, it’s best not to use imperatives (starting a sentence directly with a verb like “Reply to my e-mail,” “Go to the bank,” “Finish this project.”)

Instead, make requests with the phrases, Could you…? and Could you please…?

Register in writing  : It is rude to write/ type several question marks after a request : Example: What is the time???? / and rude to message just question marks sans wording : Example: ?? ( NEVER follow up a formal request via message or e - mail with just question marks - rather : ''I am just checking in to see if my message was received.''/ ''Are the days and times provided, suitable? Thank you for your response.''

“Let me know” is a nicer and more indirect way to say “tell me.” It’s a casual way to ask for some information. Alternatively, you could simply ask the question, “When are you available?

If you happen to be early for an appointment, be patient and wait - you will be seen to in good time. Use the 5 minute rule when waiting for a doctor's appointment, an interview or any other such event where the person you are meeting may have back to back clients and a slight delay. 

''Patience is a virtue.''.

Thank you so much for reading my post ! Do share : What is polite in your language / culture ? 

Adverbs and Adjectives ( A request ! :) )

Hello dear students, 

It has indeed been a while since my last blog post...life has gone on and times have been eventful as they must be and will be. How have you been ? 

I trust that your journey to fluency has been eventful, enjoyable and most of all, a learning experience that awakens the very soul ! 

Remember to be good to each other - may the learning and teaching proceed... today, I present to you: 

ADVERBS AND ADJECTIVES : 

Adverbs:

Adverbs are used to give us more information about an action verb. How something happens or is done. 

For example:

'She cried loudly when the cat died'.

'He easily climbed the wall'.

Many English adverbs end in –ly. They are often made by adding –ly to the end of an adjective: quick + ly = quickly.

Be careful!

Sometimes adjectives end in –ly. For example:

friendly, lonely and lovely.

Adjectives:

Adjectives are used to tell us about nouns. They tell us about people and things.

'That was a bad film'.

'My exam was easy'.

Adverb + Adjective:

Adverbs can be used with adjectives. Take a look at the following examples:

adverb+adjective

extremely expensive

incredibly surprised

reasonably good

Astronomically high

Linking Verbs

LIST

to appear

to be

to become

to feel

to get

to go

to grow

to look

to prove

to remain

to seem

to smell

to sound

to stay

to taste

to turn

USE

The linking verbs above are often followed by adjectives instead of adverbs. In such situations, the adjective describes the subject of the sentence rather than the verb.

TIPS::

Look at the context

If you're not sure whether to use an adverb or an adjective, try to figure out what you're describing. Remember, adjectives are used to describe nouns, which means they can explain what kind of thing you have, how many things you have, or which thing you're talking about.

Adverbs, on the other hand, are used to describe verbs, which means they can explain how something happened, when something happened, or where something happened.

Look at the placement:

Here's an easy way to know where to put an adjective in a sentence. It will usually appear just before the noun it's describing. By contrast, an adverb will usually appear right after the verb it's describing.

Unfortunately, placement doesn't always tell you if something is an adverb or adjective. For example, is sassy an adjective or adverb in the image below?

Even though it's right next to a verb (is), sassy is an adjective because it describes the magician. And while adjectives are usually close to the words they describe, adverbs can move around more freely in a sentence. For example, you might see an adverb at the beginning of a sentence.

Here, frankly is an adverb, but it doesn't describe any specific verb in the sentence. Instead, it means the entire sentence will be spoken in a frank, or direct, way. If he was more optimistic, he might have said, Hopefully, it will all work out.

Now read the following sentences and decide if an adverb or adjective is needed:

Relax. He's a ___ driver.

safe

safely

Your brother is so ___.

kind

kindly

I always work ___ during the week.

hard

hardly

You ___ touched your lunch.

hardly

hard

At the party everyone was ___ dressed.

beautiful

beautifully

By the time we got home I was ___ tired.

terribly

terrible

Han did ___ on his test.

badly

bad

I baked this cake ___ for you.

special

specially

They have been ___ married for years.

happily

happy

It's natural to feel ___ before a job interview.

nervously

nervous