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Im fine help me1/8/2024 ![]() In the comments, Damkerng T reports that similar results are observed in COCA:Īnd the corresponding search on Goggle's n-gram viewer yields similar results: See here where I've compared three possibilities:Īlthough all of them sound good to me, books for English language learners seem to prefer the latter. To answer questions like that, one could use Google's n-gram viewer. The shift with time of the preferred location of please (with a bonus link to song by the Beatles credit for this link should go to Emilio Pisanty) Some basic analysis using google's n-gram viewer and COCA There are very good answers that discuss the significance of the position of please. The reason it's funny is because the level of insistence for help was way less than the need for it. Well, could you stop out and pick me up, please? Nope, just sitting here with Joe and George. One evening, he was in the boathouse with some of his friends, and the radio came on: I used to know a guy who had spent a number of years as a fisherman in Maine, and he told this story. There's a flavor almost of begging in the song.)Ī funny story comes to mind. When you do use won't you please in this sense, it is particularly insistent. (Edit: I note the exception to this of "won't you pleeease, please help me" from the Beatles song mentioned in another answer. "Won't you help me" usually doesn't go with "please" since it is really asking if the person is unwilling to help even though he should. Now, "would you help me, please" sounds bit less insistent to me than using could, I suppose because it's asking if one is willing to help rather than if one is able to. ![]() I say typically because one can always use tone of voice to change this. On the other hand, if a shopper asked a clerk "could you please help me?" instead of "could you help me, please?" it would typically convey a sense of irritation at having been made to wait too long. If for example, a child came up to a stranger and said "Could you please help me? I'm lost." the child would probably be thought of as very well-mannered, keeping a cool head in a frightening situation. This is because it's a bit less insistent.Ĭontext is very important as well a more insistent request for help can go with a more pressing need for it and not be impolite. Notice RayB's point that putting please at the end of the sentence sounds more polite. Changing the place in the sentence of the word please changes its emphasis roughly, the earlier the word comes in the sentence, the stronger the request for help. There are a lot of subtleties hidden in the different words and word orders mentioned here. Rather than trying to learn 1000 rules on usage, I suggest that you gain subtle usage skills naturally through observation and experience. There are a lot of great answers in this thread (I suggest you read them too!), but that can be overwhelming! Usage is highly dependent on context.For more information, see Google Search: sentence information, clarity, and focus. While "please" tends to be more formal and polite at the end of sentences, a longer sentence may be more natural sounding with "please" moved closer to the beginning. But length-of-sentence can be an opposing force. Other answers in this thread provide great analyses on formality and urgency. Consider the following: "Could you help me find my light-brown work shoes that I just bought, please?" "Could you please help me find my light-brown work shoes that I just bought?" The latter introduces politeness earlier while also focusing the sentence on the important information. Sentence length tends to require "please" to be moved to the beginning. Sentence structure has an impact on information emphasis: Another answer suggests a different result. Google Search "Could you please help me*": 11,000,000 results.ġ Google results may not be accurate at all. Google Search "Could you help me*please": 40,000,000 results. The following data is a very rough indication that "please-on-the-end" might be more common: 1 Use whichever one you want and you'll be more polite than most people. On my polite-o-meter, the two sentences score very close: "Could you help me, please?", "Could you please help me?".
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