Imagine somebody is trying to achieve something, and explains you what the task is. At some point, you need to make clear what it needs to be done, since the person talking to you doesn’t seem to understand what you previously said. Is it rude to start a sentence with “First off”? As another example, … Read more
Consider the following situation: Bob is planning to visit Smiths. Alice says to Bob: I hope you will show at least a tiny amount of good behavior there. (1) In my language (Ukrainian), when Alice says to Bob, I hope you behave well there has a connotation that Alice is almost sure that Bob will … Read more
Being an English language learner for about 30 years, I still make mistakes. In a written language, when I have misspelled and noticed it in a timely manner, I simply navigate to a wrong word and edit it. However, in a spoken conversation, when I use a wrong word, I must stop and correct myself … Read more
A friend of mine, who is local to Japan, noticed someone from abroad with a folding map who looked lost, and would like to know whether or not she could say “Can I help you?”. She had overheard the expression “Can I help you?” while inside stores, but she doesn’t know whether it sounds natural … Read more
When writing emails, I often ended it with “thank you in advance”. Even more, I used to have it in my signature for a certain time (mea culpa). However, recently I’ve been told that it is not appropriate or even rude. I checked on the Web and found some links (1), (2) that confirm this … Read more
If during conversation, I face problem in understanding what the other speaker is saying, I may come with following polite statements: "Sorry…?" "Sorry, could not get you…" "Pardon me…" "Come again please…" But my inability to understand can be due to two reasons. 1) "I could not hear what you said" and 2) "I could … Read more
I am looking for a short phrase that I can say when something bad happens. For example, when my mouse breaks or my computer is hanging. I know the expression damn it but I need something more polite. Answer As mentioned, darn or dang are the closest approximations of damn, and crap also works, but … Read more
Suppose someone is saying to you: I wish you Merry Christmas! or Good luck! Is it meaningful to reply “You too”? Or should you respond “Same to you”? Answer "You too" is an abbreviation of a repeat of the sender’s statement, for example: Merry Christmas! [Merry Christmas to] You too! This is entirely valid spoken … Read more
