English Language Discussion Forums

#31 11-Jul-2006, 17:32

Shall I help you..? I offer my help to someone

Would I help you..."-- polite

Could I help you..? -- very polite.

All the best ,

#32 11-Jul-2006, 18:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by saleemabu

dear friends,
There is

a slight difference between " offers" , 'requests' and advice.
In this case , it's suitable to use shall with the pronoun " I " better than
will .Do you agree on this? With best wishes.
saleemabu

Agree !
In this situation we better use shall - Shall I help you ?[I offer my help]

I will do that - willingness-

I shall do that - obligation; duty
e.g.

Mother : Will you help me with the dishes?
I ; Yes, I will .[ I do it with pleasure]
: Yes, I shall [no pleasure, I`ll do it because mother asks me]

Shall I help you ?- - I offer my help
Could I help you? - more polite
Would I help you? - polite

Regards,

king of darkness · #33 17-Sep-2006, 13:53

we can use both of them

but if we follow the rule, we shall use shall, cuz shall come with I and WE.
but shall it had been demolished by the speakers, and they usually use will with all subjects instead of shall.

**Tdol** · #34 18-Sep-2006, 06:40

'Shall' is most commonly used in BrE questions nowadays- the I/we shall is mostly found in formal language.

csharp · #35 17-Feb-2007, 10:50

Shall is used for subject " I and we"

**Tdol** · #36 18-Feb-2007, 09:12

I'd say 'can be used for I and we'- that usage is very uncommon in American English and not that widely used in british English any more.

sidje · #37 19-Feb-2007, 17:39

I think 'shall' sounds better and is more likely to be used than 'will' in this case.

Epica · #38 30-Mar-2007, 21:52

i think we can say we will shall return ?

who can answer me its right or no ?

bulut · #39 16-Jun-2007, 22:07

hello

are you england?

riverkid · #40 25-Jun-2007, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheena55ro

Shall I help you..? I offer my help to someone

Would I help you..."-- polite

Could I help you..? -- very polite.

Would I help you..."-- polite

This isn't a polite form, Sheena, it's a conditional statement. We don't use 'would' in this form with 'I' unless we want to make the conditional statement I mentioned above.

A: Help me, okay?

B: Would I help you, hmmmmm, if you were to pay me I might.

To make an equivalent polite question to "Could I help you?", we use,

Would you like some help?

Would you like me to help you?

[probably some others]