See examples of Pass me the salt, please in English. Real sentences showing how to use Pass me the salt, please correctly. Please help me how I will start my export bushiness. Caterpillar, BNSF and Chevron Agree to Pursue Hydrogen Locomotive Demonstration. We employ around 14,000 people on four continents and sell our products in 150 countries through 2,000 dealer depot locations. MAX77301A. ). 90 000 small and medium businesses that use our database. When you are at a dinner with your parents and your boyfriend, you say "daddy, can you pass the salt?" And then the boyfriend and the father both reach for it Search Translations in context of "Could you pass me the salt" in English-Arabic from Reverso Context: Could you pass me the salt, please? could you lend me. - podrías prestarme me puedes prestar puedes prestarme podría prestarme. could you hand me. - podrías pasarme podrías alcanzarme me pasas podría pasarme. you could kill me. - podrías matarme puedes matarme. you could make me. - pudieras hacerme. will you pass me. . Could you please pass me the salt? Options Previous Topic Next Topic Koh Elaine Posted Saturday, December 2, 2017 82309 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/4/2012Posts 8,454Neurons 38,114 Could you please pass me the salt?Could you pass me the salt?I was told by a friend that the second sentence without "please" is wrong. Is he correct?Thanks. Back to top thar Posted Saturday, December 2, 2017 84749 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/8/2010Posts 28,361Neurons 116,384 Well, in social terms, yes. It is very rude to ask without saying 'please' even if it is a 'could you?', not an orderA 'please' is an integral part of the it would go at the beginning or the end, but nothing wrong the middle, so long as it is might get away without a 'please' to your mates, but in any other situation it just sounds impolite. Back to top Koh Elaine Posted Saturday, December 2, 2017 92930 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/4/2012Posts 8,454Neurons 38,114 Thanks, thar. Back to top hedy mmm Posted Saturday, December 2, 2017 14147 PM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/29/2014Posts 1,466Neurons 704,940Location Borough of Bronx, New York, United States Actually, it should read "Would you please pass me the salt" ...obviously they COULD pass the salt...the question is WOULD they pass it! I think thar, who is alway correct and precise in his suggestions, might've overlooked that word, in concern for the 'integral' part, which is the word 'please', which definetly is most important!As a kid I went to summer camp and when when we ate meals or played games, we'd have fun when someone would say, "Could you please pass..." And the response would be "Yes, I can" ...and not pass it because 'could' means 'can you 'or 'are you capable of'...and then there'd be a peal of laughter until the correct question would follow...'WOULD YOU PLEASE PASS ME THE SALT'...of course, only the one who was desperate for it was utterly frustrated!Hope my input is okay by you thar, I meant no disrespect...just brought back fond memories. Don't get me started on how we learned to pass around the seconds, or in what direction! Eeek! Have a great weekend, hedy Back to top Romany Posted Saturday, December 2, 2017 25356 PM Rank Advanced Member Joined 6/14/2009Posts 18,351Neurons 59,731Location Brighton, England, United Kingdom We've had quite a few discussions recently on the fact that many AE speakers look at this usage in the same was as Hedy you can access one of those you'll find it interesting, Koh. And you'll find why we say "Could" in neither is more "right" than the other. Just different cultural constructs. Back to top palapaguy Posted Sunday, December 3, 2017 123511 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 10/28/2013Posts 1,910Neurons 14,578Location Calabasas, California, United States Koh Elaine wroteCould you please pass me the salt?Could you pass me the salt?I was told by a friend that the second sentence without "please" is wrong. Is he correct? is certainly not wrong. "Could you pass me the salt?" is quite common and acceptable in AE. Adding "please" makes it more polite, but that's unnecessary in most casual settings. Back to top Koh Elaine Posted Sunday, December 3, 2017 124414 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/4/2012Posts 8,454Neurons 38,114 Thanks to all of you. Back to top thar Posted Sunday, December 3, 2017 83425 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/8/2010Posts 28,361Neurons 116,384 Hedy - nothing wrong with disagreeing with me - it has been known to happen! I too know the 'can you' ability vs 'will you' willingness correction - but for whatever reason, I would say 'could'. To me 'would' makes it sound like too much of an order. You ask if they could do something - and let it be assumed there is a reason behind it. Until some smart alec answers 'yes'. As Rom says, I think that is a AE /BE difference in phrasing. Also the levels of 'please, thankyou' and 'sorry' that are expected in well-mannered English people. You say sorry if someone bumps into you. You say please for everything, and thanks for anything. The difference in culture can be noticeable. Brits in America can sometimes appear too polite, or not assertive enough - and Americans in Britain can come across as brash and rude. It is just the cultural difference of using a few words, or not using them. I think there are similar jokes about Americans vs Canadians. My advice to learners would be to learn to always say please, until it is instinctive. Appearing too polite can be quaint, but does no harm. Appearing rude can damage a business relationship before it even starts!Sometimes it is tough, but the British fight on to keep their culture, despite the world trying to dismiss it. Back to top Koh Elaine Posted Sunday, December 3, 2017 102411 AM Rank Advanced Member Joined 7/4/2012Posts 8,454Neurons 38,114 Thanks, thar. Back to top Users browsing this topic Guest Japanese textbooks do like to make up rules for politeness that don't really exist. If you can reach the salt without interrupting another person's eating, it's not rude if your hand is in front of other people. This isn't some kind of special rule that needs to be explained to Japanese people. It is no more rude for English people in England than it is for Japanese people in Japan. This is like a rule that "you must not steal food from other people's plates", not a rule like "you must not leave the chopsticks sticking out the rice". People won't ask you to "pass the salt" if they believe they can reach it themselves. The only reason someone would ask you to "pass the salt" is because that person believes it is much easier for you to reach it. If it really isn't - for example if there is a salt cellar right in front of them, you can just point this out to them John Could you pass the salt? Taro There's some just in front of you. If there is salt that is easy for you to reach then just pass them the salt! If there is no salt that you can reach, but there is some that a third person could reach, you can pass on the request. John Could you pass the salt? Taro Sure, ah, Mary, could you hand me the salt please? Mary Here you are. Taro Thanks, John, here you are. 1 Hello everybody, I have a problem about a syntactic group "pass the salt". - I'd like Tom pass the salt. I don't understand its meaning. Thanks in advance. 2 You're missing a "to" - to pass something, in this case the salt I'd like Tom to pass the salt. If you're at a dining table and someone says, "Please pass the salt," they would like you to give them the salt which is closer to you than it is to them. It is much more polite than reaching across someone to grab it for yourself. At many tables, you will hear "Please pass the salt and pepper" because those two items are generally asked for, and passed, together so we don't have to hunt them down individually. For this reason, even if you ask someone to pass you the salt, don't be surprised if they pass you both the salt and the pepper they're a unit. 3 oh yes, I'm sorry. pass the salt = get over it, move on? Thanks. 4 Um, I don't think so ... the only "pass the salt" I'm familiar with has the literal meaning of "pass me the salt - my food needs it." Not even Urban Dictionary offers anything odd for "pass the salt." Cagey post mod English Only / Latin 5 Have you heard "pass the salt" used in some other context, not when people are eating? 6 Have you heard "pass the salt" used in some other context, not when people are eating? Yes I have. Just today I have come across its use by my late mother in some family history notes she wrote. She used it as an expression of disbelief. I have only ever heard the pharase used at the dinner table before. And I am 72. So never too old to learn something new. "As my mother herself had the Spanish Flu at the time hoe the hell did she know? She reckons she recovered because she had a nosebleed . Pass the salt please." 7 Yes, in your context the speaker would have had this expression in mind I'll take that with a pinch of salt I don't believe that explanation. 8 Welcome to the forums, Ginns Major! I had, I think, the same reaction as veli - that "Pass the salt" wasn't an expression of disbelief in itself, but an indirect reference to the expression "Take x with a pinch of salt". Can, according to Cambridge Dictionary, is actually used to make requests obviously, among other things used to request something Their example sentences If you see Brett, can you tell him I'm in town next weekend? Can you make a little less noise, please? I'm trying to work. In answer to your question making a request using the verb can is not ungrammatical nor uncommon. As JonMark pointed out, responding to such a request with yes or no can come across as pedantic or annoying. On the one hand, I agree that might be the case , for example when you answer that on a test when expected to solve some equations or give an explanation. On the other hand, in the example sentences by Cambridge Dictionary, yes is an appropriate response to indicate you will tell Brett or will be more quiet, respectively. Therefore, as with many things, context is key. Respond when and how you think is appropriate in the situation you find yourself in. Obviously, in your example your interlocutor is requesting the salt. Yes is an appropriate response provided you give it to them. Similarly, no, I can't right now, I have my hands full is also appropriate when you aren't able to hand it to them. Attribution Definition of “can” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press

could you pass me the salt please