will

[simon1234]

Hi there,
What is the difference in meaning between
'Will you help?' and 'would you help?'

tks
simon

 

[EnglishMuffin]

'Would you help?' sounds a little more polite. 'Will you help?' is more direct.

 

[EnglishMuffin]

I just thought that you might have been asking about the structure not the intent. Grammatically the sentences are nearly identical. One is a simple future expression turned into a question and the other uses the modal 'would' to give it a more polite intention.

Just to put the cat among the teacher pigeons, this is exactly the reason I think it is acceptable to call 'will' a modal verb used to express a future intention. Mechanically it works the same way.