Emails- Offers & Commands

Please plus verb for offers and commands in emails

Are the following sentences offers or commands (= orders/ instructions)? Label them O for offers or C for commands. A few could be both, but most are clearly one of the other. 

• For more information, please click on this link.
• If you have any more questions, please let me know.
• If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
• If you need any more info, just drop me a line.
• Please accept our apologies for…
• Please arrange for someone to pick me up from the airport.
• Please be patient.
• Please book a hotel for me.
• Please call me if you’d like to talk about it.
• Please change the venue of the meeting.
• Please check my report and give me some feedback.
• Please clarify what you mean by…
• Please confirm if you’d like…
• Please confirm receipt of this email.
• Please contact your boss immediately and tell her…
• Please contact… for further details.
• Please feel free to cancel…
• Please find my homework attached.
• Please get back to me ASAP.
• Please give me a bell if more explanation is needed.
• Please go ahead.
• Please let me know if you’d like me to reserve a table.
• Please let me know straightaway if anything isn’t clear.
• (First of all) please let me say how sorry I am about…
• Please make sure you that you attach…
• Please postpone the meeting.
• Please reply to this email by Friday.
• Please see the attachment for more information.
• Please send me… right away.
• Please sort out this problem as soon as possible.
• Please take your time.
• Please let me know if that doesn’t answer your question.
• Please update the information and resend it.
• Please use this number if you get lost on the way.
• Please write back as soon as you can.

Which function do phrases with “if” above have? Make sure you have given all the ones above with “if” that function, and check if the others should have the same function as the ones with “if” or a different function to them. Then check all your answers as a class.

Rewrite commands above which aren’t polite enough, e.g. should actually be requests.

Check as a class and then test each other in pairs or small groups.

Suggested answers

Ones which haven’t changed are in italics. Other answers such as different requests and some remaining as commands may be okay, so please check if you have different answers.

• For more information, please click on this link. – O
• If you have any more questions, please let me know. – O
• If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. – O
• If you need any more info, just drop me a line. – O
• Please accept our apologies for… – O
• Could you possibly arrange for someone to pick me up from the airport? – C changed to request
• Thanks for your patience./ Sorry for the delay. – C changed to be more polite
• Would you mind booking a hotel for me? – C changed to request
• Please call me if you’d like to talk about it. – O
• Would it be possible to change the venue of the meeting? – C changed to request
• I would be grateful if you could check my report and give me some feedback./ Please tell me if anything needs changing. – C changed to request and O
• Could you clarify what you mean by…? – C changed to request
• Please confirm if you’d like… – O
• Could you confirm receipt of this email (because…) – C changed to request
• I would be very grateful if you could contact your boss immediately and tell her… (because…) – C changed to request
• Please contact… for further details. – O
• Please feel free to cancel… – O
• Please find my homework attached. – O
• Could you get back to me by… (at the latest) because…? – C changed to request
• Please give me a bell if more explanation is needed. – O
• Please go ahead. – O
• Please let me know if you’d like me to reserve a table. – O
• Please let me know straightaway if anything isn’t clear. – O
• (First of all) please let me say how sorry I am about… – O
• Can you make sure that you attach… (because…)? – C changed to more polite form
• I would really appreciate it if you could postpone the meeting because… – C changed to request
• Could you try to reply to this email by Friday? This is because… – C changed to request
• Please see the attachment for more information. – O
• I would be grateful if you could send me… by… due to… – C changed to request
• I would appreciate it if you could sort out this problem by… in order to… – C changed to request
• Please take your time. – O
• Please let me know if that doesn’t answer your question. – O
• Could you update the information and resend it so that…? – C changed to request
• Please use this number if you get lost on the way. – O
• Could you write back by… so I can…? – C changed to request