Friendship
Senior 4 · English
Friendship
Lesson 3 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
Friends spend half their time asking each other for things and offering things to each other: notes, a seat on the bus, help with question 4, a share of the mandazi. English does this with a small set of modal verbs, and the one you choose tells the listener how close you are and how big the favour is. Later, when you tell someone else what happened, you report those offers and requests, and English has a special set of verbs for that too.
Written by Ganzaa; the friends are the imagined students of Lesson 1. Modal verbs are underlined.
S4 Study Squad
Mugisha: Could you send me the chemistry notes? I left mine at school.
Uwase: Sure. Shall I send the answers to the practice questions too?
Mugisha: Yes please! Would you mind explaining question 4 tomorrow?
Uwase: Not at all.
Ange: Can I join the study group tomorrow?
Keza: Of course you can! Would you like to come to my house? My mum says she'll make tea.
Ange: I'd love to. I'll bring some mandazi.
Mugisha: Keza, will you lend me 500 francs for the bus? I'll pay you back on Monday, I promise.
Keza: Sorry, I can't. I've only got enough for my own fare.
What Keza told her mother later: Mugisha asked Uwase to send him the chemistry notes, and she offered to send the answers too. He asked her if she would mind explaining question 4. Ange asked if she could join us, so I invited her to come here, and she offered to bring mandazi. Then Mugisha asked me to lend him 500 francs and promised to pay me back on Monday, but I refused.
| Function | Forms | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Asking someone to do something (a request) | Can / Could / Will / Would you + base verb? · Would you mind + -ing? · Do you think you could …? · I was wondering if you could … | Could you send me the notes? |
| Asking for permission | Can / Could / May I + base verb? · Do you mind if I …? · Is it OK if I …? | Can I join the study group? May I is the most formal. |
| Offering to do something | Shall I …? · I'll … · Can I help …? · Would you like me to …? · Let me … | Shall I send the answers too? |
| Offering something | Would you like …? · Can I get you …? | Would you like some tea? |
| Inviting | Would you like to …? · Why don't you …? · Do you want to …? (informal) | Would you like to come to my house? |
| You say yes | You say no, politely |
|---|---|
| Sure. · Of course. · Certainly (formal). · No problem. · Yes, please. · I'd love to. · That's very kind of you. | I'm sorry, but I can't. · I'm afraid I can't, because … · No, thanks, I'm fine. · I'd love to, but … |
Careful with mind: mind means "object to". So Would you mind explaining question 4? really asks "Do you object?", and the friendly answer is No: Not at all. / No, of course not.
To report what friends asked, offered and promised, choose a reporting verb that names the action, and follow its pattern.
| Direct speech | Reporting verb and pattern | Reported |
|---|---|---|
| "Could you send me the notes?" | ask + person + to + verb | He asked her to send him the notes. |
| "Can I join the group?" | ask + if / whether + clause (can → could) | She asked if she could join the group. |
| "Would you mind explaining question 4?" | ask + person + if + clause (would stays) | He asked her if she would mind explaining question 4. |
| "Shall I send the answers too?" · "I'll bring mandazi." | offer + to + verb | She offered to send the answers. She offered to bring mandazi. |
| "Would you like to come to my house?" | invite + person + to + verb | I invited her to come to my house. |
| "I'll pay you back on Monday, I promise." | promise + to + verb · promise (+ person) + that | He promised to pay me back on Monday. He promised (me) that he would pay me back. |
| "Sorry, I can't." | refuse (+ to + verb) | I refused (to lend him the money). |
| "Sure." | agree + to + verb | She agreed to explain it. |
| "Why don't we meet at ten?" | suggest + -ing · suggest + that + clause | He suggested meeting at ten. He suggested that we (should) meet at ten. |
Modals in reported speech. As you learned in Unit 3, the tense usually moves one step back: can → could, will → would, may → might, must → had to (or must). Could, would, should, might and ought to do not change. Shall I …? as an offer is reported with offer; shall as a plain future becomes would. Pronouns and time words change too: tomorrow → the next day.
Worked example 1: choosing a request for the situation
Situation: you need to borrow a textbook overnight (a) from your desk-mate, (b) from a teacher you hardly know.
Worked example 2: reporting a conversation in four steps
Direct: Uwase: "Shall I help you with the poster tomorrow?" Ange: "Yes, please! Could you bring your coloured pens?" Uwase: "Of course. I'll bring them, I promise."
Notice that a good report does not repeat said five times: the verbs themselves tell the story.
Warning
Tip
Report the action, not the words. Ask yourself what the speaker was doing: asking, offering, inviting, promising, refusing, agreeing or suggesting. That word is your reporting verb, and its pattern does the rest.
How to… make polite requests, BBC Learning English (about 6 minutes, 2015). Write down every request form Finn uses and place each one on the politeness scale in this lesson.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Quick check
Report this: Uwase said, "Shall I send you the answers too?"
