Tuesday, 22 December 2015

expressions - To indirectly and politely ask about something "I wanted to" vs "I would like to"

In my mind, I barely hear any difference between your two options. The use of past-tense "wanted" over present tense "want" in the first example could be debated. However, I feel the most polite way to express this would be "May I ask your advice on ..."



There are some pedantic types out there that would say that all of these are too passive: you are asking permission to ask (i.e. "May I ask you a question?" "You just did.")



A more assertive statement might be, "If you don't mind my asking, what is your advice on..."

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