with pleasure

--May I use your pen?
--Yes, ______.
A. with pleasure B. of course

The answer given is B.

But I think A also works here.

What do you think?

Jason

jasonlulu_2000 said:

--May I use your pen?
--Yes, ______.
A. with pleasure B. of course

The answer given is B.

But I think A also works here.

What do you think?

Jason

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No, A would work if the question was "Would you lend me your pen?"

But here is an entry from Oxford Dictionary:

“May I sit here?” “Yes, with pleasure.”

jasonlulu_2000 said:

But here is an entry from Oxford Dictionary:

“May I sit here?” “Yes, with pleasure.”

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That sounds very odd to me, Oxford Dictionary or not.

emsr2d2 said:

That sounds very odd to me, Oxford Dictionary or not.

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The Oxford Dictionary is also a man-made thing. It is natural that someone finds it unnatural, because this SOMEONE might come from a different country from that of the dictionary editor.

For the question, you don't think WITH PLEASURE is suitable; is it because the question starts with MAY but not WOUlD?

nelson13 said:

The Oxford Dictionary is also a man-made thing. It is natural that someone finds it unnatural, because this SOMEONE might come from a different country from that of the dictionary editor.

For the question, you don't think WITH PLEASURE is suitable; is it because the question starts with MAY but not WOUlD?

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No, I think "with pleasure" is unsuitable because it's not a suitable answer to the question "May I use your pen?"!

Had the question been "Would/Could/Will you lend me your pen?" then "Yes, with pleasure" would be a perfectly good answer.

May I use your pen?
Yes, of course [you may].

Could you lend me your pen?
Yes, [I will lend you my pen] with pleasure.