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Parts of speech.

af Bemused, 15. maj 2013

Meddelelser: 5

Sprog: English

Bemused (Vise profilen) 15. maj 2013 04.59.50

Could someone please explain which part of speech "please" is in the phrases "Please forgive my poor ability" or "Please do this"

sudanglo (Vise profilen) 15. maj 2013 08.32.49

Translated into Esperanto the 'please' would naturally be verbal. Bonvolu pardoni min or pardonu min, mi petas.

I guess you could argue for it being verbal in English (2nd person imperative)

Roberto12 (Vise profilen) 15. maj 2013 09.41.17

You've got two options, namely:

Bonvole pardonu ... (please = adverb)
Bonvolu pardoni ... (please = imperative verb)

I tend to use the first form, although that's probably native English bias.

Edit: I've just realised that the question is about English and not Esperanto! I'm sure "please" is an adverb.

Evildela (Vise profilen) 16. maj 2013 09.22.29

You can also drop at "mi petas" at the end of the sentence.

For example:
Donu al mi la glason, mi petas
Pass me a glass, I request (please)

J_Marc (Vise profilen) 18. maj 2013 09.09.26

Bemused:Could someone please explain which part of speech "please" is in the phrases "Please forgive my poor ability" or "Please do this"
At first I thought it was an adverb; one could say, Please give the customer her change and replace it easily with

Condescendingly give the customer her change.
or
Kindly give the customer her change.

But I think it's a shortened form of another clause. I'm not sure which, but either,

If it please you, give the customer her change.
or
It would please me if you give the customer her change.

So to answer your question I don't know.

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