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wanna speak real English from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at English class 101.com hi everybody my name is Alisha in this lesson I'm going to talk about formal request patterns these are a few different patterns that you can use when you're making formal requests so these are great for business emails and other situations where you need to politely ask for something I'm going to introduce the patterns and then I'm going to share a couple of examples as well these are not the only patterns you can use they're just a few ideas to help you get started so let's take a look okay first one let's begin with the first one you'll see some of these patterns today we'll use the word would at the beginning remember we can use wood as a common word to begin a request so the first example includes this would you be so kind as to something another thing you'll see in many of these examples is the word - before kind of the extra information portion this is a great hint that we should follow this part with some kind of verb so 2 plus the infinitive form of over we'll see a lot of examples of this so the first one I've included be so kind as to do something so this is making a request and this part be so kind as to shows us that the speaker is asking for the kindness of the listener or the reader in doing this action which we're about to describe so let's look at an example of this would you be so kind as to send me the files so here the verb we're using is send as I said we need to follow this too with the infinitive form of the verb send and send me the files finishes the phrase so would you be so kind as to send me the files means please send me the files but it's a more formal sounding request you're saying it would be really nice of you if you would send me the files it just means please send me the files but it sounds more polite okay let's look at another one similar again this one begins with wood and ends with two in the introductory part of this pattern however here we have possible would it be possible to this sentence or this pattern rather this is another way of saying can you can you but would it be possible to sounds much more formal than can you or in some cases can I so let's look at an example of this one would it be possible to discuss this later would it be possible to discuss this later again we have this 2 here which shows us we should use the infinitive form of the verb the regular form of the verb to discuss this later this part would it be possible to means can so in other words can we discuss this later that's what this request is but it sounds more formal would it be possible to discuss this later we're connecting if you're using this in speech we're connecting these sounds would it be becomes would it be would it be possible would it be possible to discuss this later ok so this is a good one to use for can situations if you would use can in a regular request you could try it would it be possible to in a formal request okay let's go along to the next one may we ask you to may we ask you to this is a formal way of saying please please please do this thing so again we're ending the pattern with 2 here we have this kind of confusing may be may we ask you so you know that we use may to ask for permission to do something but we're also using ask so really this combination make a very soft request here I'm using we this we could mean your group or your company or your department perhaps so may we ask you to is kind of making yourself sound quite humble so you're kind of lowering yourself and making a request from the other person but again this just means please please we're just using a more formal Express again we're going to need to use the infinitive form here because we see two at the end of this introductory section so let's look at an example all right may we ask you to submit the application by tomorrow so again to our infinitive form and here may we ask you to submit the application by tomorrow i phrased this as a question really if you're using please you could just say please submit the application by tomorrow period not a question mark here because we're being formal and polite we say may we ask you to submit the application by tomorrow so may we ask you it's like you're asking permission to ask for something from someone if that makes sense so it's kind of a very soft expression but we're phrasing this as a question here again this just means please submit the application by tomorrow okay on to the next one the next one is also a possibility expression do you think you would be able to so here we see would do you think you would be able to this means that in the future you're asking about someone's future abilities something that someone could do or would be able to do in the future so do you think you would be able to verb phrase here we should follow this with a verb again this part do you think you would this is maybe kind of softening it instead of would you be able to it's do you think you would be able to hear as well a pronunciation point this you would we reduce this to you'd do you think you'd be able to do you think you'd be able to in speech in writing we can use the regular form the non reduce the non contracted form let's look at an example of how to use this do you think you would be able to have it ready by tomorrow so this could be a document for example do you think you would be able to have it ready by tomorrow if we want to make this really really simple do you think you would be able to have it ready by tomorrow is can you have it ready by tomorrow that's really what this means it's just a very formal way of saying that do you think you would be able to have it ready by tomorrow so it's quite soft it's like giving the other person a chance to say no I'm really busy but it means can you can you have it ready by tomorrow do you think you would be able to have it ready by tomorrow quite nice okay let's move along to the next one again we're starting this with wood so another soft request pattern would you have some time available to so this is asking about someone's schedule would you have some time available to verb we need to follow this with the verb so let's look at the example would you have some time available to chat about this so again here's our to our verb to chat about this in other case this just means do you have time to chat about this but this would you have some time available in the future in other words or do you think that it would be possible to chat about this is another way to say that so just a quite formal expression again do you have time to chat in other words okay let's move along to the next one for very kind of direct requests but that are also formal we can use a pattern like this I would like to request I would like to request here you notice there's no 2 at the end of this so we should probably use a noun phrase here there's something that you want to receive so I would like to request something example I would like to request your attendance at the meeting I would like to request your attendance at the meeting this is a formal sentence which means please come to the meeting please come to the meeting so I would like to request you can imagine this as meaning I want or a need or please do this I would like to request something I would like to request a a letter I would like to request an application form please I like to request your attendance at the meeting as well so these mean I want something but as I've gone over here try to avoid using some of these expressions informal requests I want and I need can sound very casual and too direct especially in business situations when you're making a request I tend to avoid using these if you're trying to give some supporting information or your requests maybe that's okay so for example I would like to request your attendance at the meeting because I need your approval for my project for example in that case using I need could be okay but if you make your request your first kind of introduction to your request using I want or I need in some cases it might sound a little too direct so please kind of be cautious I tend to avoid these same thing with can I can I can sound a little bit casual sometimes so you can kind of feel the situation and how close you are to the person you're speaking to or writing to okay let's move along to the next one the next one is great in emails and written correspondence so this is when you are maybe introducing yourself in an email or you're introducing a request in an email I am writing to request this is very clear I like to use this one I'm writing to someone that I don't know I use this after I introduce myself hi my name is Alicia I'm from ABC company and I am writing to request so this is in other words why am i writing to this person so I'm writing to request a meeting I'm writing to request to request this document for example I'm writing to request noun phrase Here I am writing to request a letter of recommendation so in other words this is the thing I want I'm writing to request this thing this is great to use in emails when there's some specific thing that you want and you want to describe it quickly and clearly that's quite nice alright let's move along to the next one when you need to ask permission to do something so here you'll see we go back to this too at the end of the pattern meaning we should use a verb here may I or may we have permission to in other words is it okay to but this is a formal way to ask permission examples in this school example sentence may I have permission to use your video in an article so this is actually I think this is a similar similar to a comment we received on the channel may I have your permission to use your video in an article in this case so in other words is it okay if I use your video in an article this is a much more formal a much nicer way to ask if something is okay to do or not all right let's move on to the last pattern for today could you please could you please here you'll notice I've used you you can change this if you've changed this to like could I please it means you want something like you want to receive something here you're asking for someone else to do something for you could you please do something example could you please let me know if this is acceptable so this part let me know if this is acceptable means please let me know if this is OK acceptable means okay really but more formal so could you please let me know if this is okay is what this means but you can change this this you to whoever like could he please give me the information or could I please meet with you later for example you can change this could this could you depending on the situation depending on who is giving and who is receiving information or a favor or so on so this one there's quite a lot of flexibility with this so keep that in mind okay so those are a few different patterns that you can use when you're making formal requests so as I said this is really good for business emails informal situations so I hope that you got some new ideas of course if there's something else that you like to use in your formal requests please let us know in the comments if you liked the video don't forget to give us a thumbs up subscribe to the channel and come check us out at English class 101.com for other good English study resources thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon bye [Music]