Timeline for We are going on holiday on Saturday. Could you look after the cat for us?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2022 at 12:43 | vote | accept | Sergei | ||
| Aug 4, 2022 at 1:00 | comment | added | Peter Jennings | @Esther Yes I'm a native BrE speaker and I hear it all the time, but it doesn't make it right. "Would" is just as polite and can be met with refusal just the same. My point is that here on ELL we are trying to help the OPs use the best English. I'm sorry, but having a mother and 2 aunts who were teachers, hearing my language mangled daily even on the BBC, grates. | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 17:06 | comment | added | Esther | @PeterJennings although technically that is the case, native speakers regularly use "could" as a polite request. | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 12:30 | comment | added | Peter Jennings | I was always taught this type of question should be askes as Would you ... rather than Could you,. The reasoning is simple, "I could look after your cat, but I won't because I'm allergic to them" Could inquires about a possibility, Would requests an action. | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 10:15 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Going on holiday normally refers to a one or two week vacation, not just a weekend (2 days, or perhaps 3-4 days if We're going for a long weekend). Whether to mention the "ownership" of the cat, and/or the "beneficiary" of the sought favour, are entirely personal stylistic choices. Both those additional facts are probably obvious, whether explicitly stated or not, so the stylistic choice of how to express the request doesn't really affect the meaning. | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 9:46 | answer | added | fev | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 9:25 | history | asked | Sergei | CC BY-SA 4.0 |