Requests - neutral
Can you ... ?
Please ...
Requests - diplomatic
Could you possibly ... ?
I was wondering if you could ... ?
Asking for permission - neutral
Is it okay if l ... ?
Could I ... ?
Asking for permission - diplomatic
Would it be a problem for you if I ... ?
I wonder if I could ... ?
Offering help - neutral
Can I ... ?
Shall I ... ?
Offering help - diplomatic
Would you like me to ... ?
Do you need any help with ... ?
Making a suggestion - neutral
What about ... (+ -ing)?
Shall we ... ?
Making a suggestion - diplomatic
Why don't we ... ?
Perhaps we should ... ?
Softening a strong comment - neutral
There is a problem.
There will be a delay.
It will be very expensive.
We can't do that.
That gives us very little time.
I think it's better to ask Liyu.
I disagree.
Softening a strong comment - diplomatic
There seems to be an issue with this.
It's nothing serious.
I'm sorry, but it looks like there will be a small delay.
It might be quite expensive.
Won't it be a bit expensive?
It won't be cheap.
I'm not sure we can do that.
Actually, that doesn't give us much time.
Wouldn't it be better to ask Liyu?
I can see what you're saying, but ... Don't you think that ... ?
To be honest, I think it might be better to ...
Last changed8 months ago