26.08.2016 20:41, Sergey Kubushyn пишет:
В случае could коллинз употребил слова polite request и asking а в
случае с would только politely asking, т. е. вежливое request уже
исчезает. Поэтому я думаю, что употребление would - это все-таки более
мягкая форма просьбы.
11) (politeness) You use would, usually in questions, when you are
politely asking someone to do something. Would you do me a favour and
get rid of this letter I've just received?... Would you come in here a
moment, please?... Would you excuse us for a minute, Cassandra?... Oh
dear, there's the doorbell. See who it is, would you, darling. Syn: could
Вот тут развернутый ответ нэйтивного спикера, с которым согласно
большинство форума.
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/could-vs-would-politeness.1246703/
On the one hand, it is acceptable to interchange the words "would you"
and "could you" according to the dictionary, but at the same time there
are many people who will be offended if you use "could you" instead of
"would you" and find "could you" impolite. That is not to say there are
not plenty of others who feel otherwise and see no particular difference
in the words, but to be safe I personally avoid saying "could you" if
"would you" is also a possibility, unless I mean to insult the person to
whom I'm speaking.
The difference is not related to British / American convention, and
applies equally on either continent. I have friends from both countries
that care about the choice, and others that don't. In my admittedly poor
Spanish I would associate "could you" to something like ¿Es posible para
usted hacer esto? or ¿Podría usted hacer esto? and "would you" to
something like ¿Quieres hacer el favor para mí? or ¿Quieres hacer esto?
Many native English speakers would disagree with poster above who think
that both "could you" and "would you" are equally polite. Many native
speakers feel that if you say "could you close the window?" it implies
that of course you are capable and is a sort of a command disguised as a
question. Meanwhile "would you close the window?" recognizes that it is
your choice to close the window or not, so it is more of a request for a
favor. "Could" is concerned with whether something is possible, while
"would" is concerned with whether you choose to do something or not.
(Can you / Could you versus Will you / Would you)
It's not uncommon to hear some parents trying to teach children to speak
properly respond to a "could you?" request with "I could" and then force
the child to ask "would you?" before agreeing to do it. I find that if
one does not distinguish between words, that language loses meaning, so
I tend to favor using the words in their more strict senses. Some
examples of how I might use these words:
1) My friend falls down on the association football ("soccer") field and
appears to have some sort of ankle injury. I ask him, "could you turn
your foot to the left and tell me if there is any pain?" (I am here
using "could" or "can" because I'm not sure it's even possible for him
to perform this action)
2) Later in the game, the ball is kicked into a nearby tree. I ask one
of the taller players on the field, "Do you think you could reach the
ball?" (Again, I am here not sure if this action is possible)
3) At halftime, I'm thirsty but have forgotten to bring a drink, but I
see my friend has an extra bottle of water and ask, "Would you be kind
enough to let me have that extra bottle of water?" (I want him to agree
so I'm being extra polite - if I say "could you" he might say "I could
but I won't")
4) Later, one of the guys who I don't particularly like is hogging the
ball and keeps trying to dribble the whole field and finally upsets me
to the point where I yell at him, "Do you think maybe you could pass the
ball sometimes!?" (I'm mad and being as rude as possible while
disguising it somewhat in the form of being polite - it's understood
that of course he could pass the ball and he just hasn't been doing it,
and I'm basically giving him a command that he needs to start passing
the ball.)
5) After the game, there's a discussion about whether we should start an
hour earlier next game. I can't stay till the end of the discussion but
my friend is staying so I ask, "would you give me a call later and let
me know what they decide?" (He's doing me a favor so I ask politely)