Lesson 71: Unit 125 - Polite Requests for Information
In this lesson we learn how to ask polite questions in English using expressions such as 'Could you tell me...', 'Do you have any idea...' and 'Would you mind telling me...', paying attention to the c
About this lesson
In this lesson you will learn how to make polite requests for information in English using expressions such as "Could you tell me...", "Do you have any idea...", "Do you know..." and "Would you mind telling me...". You will see how direct questions turn into indirect ones — with a change in word order and without an auxiliary verb. The exercises are based on a real dialogue with a receptionist, a job interview and enrolling on a language course. You will practise all the structures through a variety of tasks so that polite speech sounds natural to you.
40 minutes
What you'll learn
- Recognise and use polite question expressions: 'Could you tell me...', 'Do you have any idea...', 'Do you know...' and 'Would you mind telling me...'
- Understand the difference between a direct and an indirect question in English
- Apply the correct word order in indirect questions (without an auxiliary verb)
- Turn direct questions into polite indirect questions
- Use what you have learned in real situations: a phone call, a job interview and a hotel reception
Lesson vocabulary
- polite The underlined questions in the dialogue are polite.
- request Polite requests for information are very useful in daily life.
- indirect question Do you have any idea when he will be back?
- auxiliary verb Notice that there is no auxiliary verb in the indirect question.
- word order Notice the change in the word order.
- mobile phone number Could you tell me what his mobile phone number is?
- document Do you know if he received my documents yesterday afternoon?
- permanent address Could you tell me what your permanent address is?
- driving licence Could you tell me if you have a driving licence?
- placement test Could you tell me if I have to write a placement test?
- salary Could you tell me what kind of salary you expect to receive?
- swimming pool Could you tell me if there is a swimming pool and a sauna in the hotel?
- internet connection Could you tell me if there is an internet connection in the rooms?
- final exam Could you tell me if there is a final exam?
- I'm afraid I'm afraid he isn't in his office at the moment.
In other languages: Български