For example, I'm talking to A and B in a meeting room, and then I want to talk with B and don't want A to listen. How do I politely ask A to leave the room?
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2This seems like it would fit the workplace SE instead? (A, would you mind giving us the room?) – Smock Jun 13 '19 at 15:26
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2I agree with Smock, also this is a matter of opinion. "Would you mind if I had a private word with B?" – Bee Jun 13 '19 at 15:53
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1@Smock - If a fluent speaker requested a polite way to ask for a private word with someone that would not offend coworkers, then I would lean toward your suggestion. However, if an English learner is completely unaware of phrasal verbs and idioms such as "give us the room" and "private word", I think ELL is perhaps a better place to ask. – J.R.♦ Jun 13 '19 at 20:04
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I'm tempted to say please leave, but, really, this question is far too broad. I'm sure I could come up with about twenty different ways of asking this in a matter of minutes. (And, even with that, what I consider to be polite, others might not. Or vice versa.) – Jason Bassford Jun 14 '19 at 6:01
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1@Jason, I must still strongly disagree. A purely onion-based question is closed because there are no objective criteria by which to vote any answer up or down. Questions such as 'which is the best programing language" are opnion-based. Questions such as "How do I pass a value to a function" or "how is a participle used" have multiple, objectively correct, sourcable answers, usually a small closed set of answers. Those are the ideal answers here, not the rare unique answers. – David Siegel Jun 14 '19 at 22:00
To A you might say the following:
Would you mind excusing us for a moment?
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How do I understand 'excusing us'? Does it mean that I need to talk to B or does it possibly mean something else? – XYZ Jun 14 '19 at 18:18
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1@XYZ That would be taken to mean, "please leave us alone" or less likely, but depending on tone and body language, please let us go elsewhere and leave you alone. – David Siegel Jun 14 '19 at 20:26
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@David thanks for explaining that to XYZ! Just to confirm, this is also how I interpret it. – Bee Jun 17 '19 at 9:06
"I need to have a word with B. Could you give us a moment?"
"Would you mind stepping outside? I need to speak to B."
