Question
4 Sep 2014
- Russian
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English (UK)
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English (US)
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French (France)
Question about English (US)
What is the difference between 1) "Could not you tell me" and 2) "Couldn't you tell me" and 3) "Could you tell me" and 4) "Can you tell me" and Could you build a descending politeness ladder from these phrases? ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
What is the difference between 1) "Could not you tell me" and 2) "Couldn't you tell me" and 3) "Could you tell me" and 4) "Can you tell me" and Could you build a descending politeness ladder from these phrases? ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.
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- English (US)
"Could not you tell me" Is incorrect. It sounds very old-fashioned! "Couldn't you tell me" and "Could you tell me" have different meanings. "Could you tell me..." Is a request for information (i.e. "Could you tell me your name?"), but "Couldn't you tell me..." is a question about the past (i.e. "Why couldn't you tell me?"). "Could" and "can" have the same meaning here, but "could" is more polite.
- Russian
Thank you! So if I say "Couldn't you tell me your name please", you will consider it as unnatural?
- English (US)
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