Can, could, may: could you help me, please? Exercises for polite requests and permission
About this lesson
This A2 drill lesson gives can, could and may exercises for asking politely: requests with Could you…?, permission with Can I…? and May I…?, and short replies.
- Grammar
- Can / could / may + subject + base verb, a request or permission, which word is more polite, may only with I and we, Where can I…?, and replies.
- Topic
- A hotel stay: Imelda's texts to the front desk of the invented Ashgrove Hotel, its guest guide, a check-in with Florian, and a chat with him.
- Activities
- True or false, sorting, choices, gap-fills, matching, drag-and-drop dialogues, word order, tables, find-the-mistake quizzes, a memory game, a chat and a test to finish.
What's inside
Chapter 1The rule
- PictureUnlock
- Study the scheme: can, could, mayGrammar schemeTry it
- Is the sentence correct? Mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Sort the questions: a request or permission?Sort into columnsTry it
- Choose the right form of the verbChoose the optionUnlock
- Write the polite question: Could you…?Fill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 2Could you help me? Requests
- Fill in the gaps: make requestsFill in the gapsTry it
- Choose the right words: Can you…? Could you…?Choose the optionUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: what do you need?Drag and dropUnlock
- Match the problems and the requestsMatchUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: requestsUnjumbleUnlock
- Find the mistake and choose the right wordsQuizUnlock
Chapter 3May I? Asking for permission
- Fill in the gaps: ask for permissionFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the right words: Can I…? May I…?Choose the optionTry it
- Choose the right replyChoose the optionUnlock
- Match the questions and the repliesMatchUnlock
- Put the words in order to ask for permissionUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the right question for each answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 4Yes, you can! Mixed practice
- Fill in the gaps: who does it?Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the table: ask for permission or ask someoneFill in the tableTry it
- Choose the right words: Where…? What time…?Choose the optionUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: questions and short answersDrag and dropUnlock
- Match the situations and the questionsMatchUnlock
- Find the mistake: questions and repliesQuizUnlock
- Read Zenobia's messages and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 5Real life: At the front desk
- Read the messages to the front deskReal-life documentUnlock
- Read the messages again: true or false?True or falseUnlock
- Read the hotel's guest guide and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read the conversation at the front desk and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Choose the right replies: you call the front deskChatTry it
- Test yourself: choose the right answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Choose the right form: at schoolChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: requests at homeFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: ask for permission at workFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: questions and repliesMemory gameUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: ask for helpUnjumbleUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: permissionUnjumbleUnlock
- Sort the sentences: right or wrong?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Choose the right reply: yes or noChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the table: short answersFill in the tableUnlock
- Choose the correct sentenceQuizUnlock
- Mark true or false: is the sentence right?True or falseUnlock
- Write the question for the answerFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Henrietta's note to her neighbor and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Gideon's email and the reply, and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read Teodoro's post and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
Grammar: can, could and may for requests and permission
Questions with can, could and may ask politely. Can you…? and Could you…? ask someone to do something; Can I…?, Could I…? and May I…? ask if you can do it yourself. Could here is not the past: it's just more polite than can.
Can, could, may: asking politely
Ask people to do things for you (Can you…?) and ask if you can do something (Can I…?).
Can / Could / May + subject + verb?
The question starts with can, could or may, then the person, then the base verb: May I come in? There's no do and no to: Can you help me?, not Do you can help me? or Could you to help me?
Can / Could / MayI / you / we…verb (no to, no -s)…?
Can you help me?
Could I use your pen?
May I come in?
A request or permission?
You after the modal asks someone to do something for you: Could you call me a taxi? I or we asks to do it yourself: Can I sit here? May we come in? Could I have…? asks for a thing: Could I have a receipt, please?
| You want… | Ask | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| someone to do something for you: a request | Can you…? · Could you…? | Can you carry my bag? · Could you call me a taxi? |
| to do something yourself: permission | Can I…? · Could I…? · May I…? | Can I sit here? · May I use the bathroom? |
| to do something with other people | Can we…? · Could we…? · May we…? | Can we go now? · May we come in? |
| to have something | Can I have…? · Could I have…? | Could I have a receipt, please? |
How polite: can, could or may?
Can is for friends and family: Can you pass the salt? Could is more polite, with people you don't know, at work, in a store or a hotel. May is very polite, and only for I and we: May I see your ticket?
| Word | Use it… | Example |
|---|---|---|
| can | with friends and family, every day | Can you pass the salt? |
| could | more polite: with people you don't know, at work, in a store or a hotel | Could you help me, please? |
| may | very polite, only with I and we | May I see your ticket? |
Saying yes and no
Yes: Sure. Of course. No problem. No: I'm sorry, but… and a reason. The short answer switches the person: Can I borrow your pen? – Yes, you can. Could you help me tomorrow? – I'm sorry, but I can't.
Saying yes and no
Yes 🙂
- Sure. · Of course. · No problem.
- Can I borrow your pen? — Yes, you can. · Sure, go ahead.
- Can you hold my bag? — Sure! · Of course. · Yes, I can.
No 🙁
- I'm sorry, but… + the reason
- Can I go out tonight? — I'm sorry, but you can't.
- Could you help me tomorrow? — I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm busy.
Examples
- Could you speak more slowly, please?a polite request
- Can I pay with my phone? — Yes, you can.permission and a short answer
- May I sit next to you? — Of course.permission, very polite
- Can you lend me your pen? — Sure, here you are.a request and a reply
- Could we have the check, please?asking for something
- Where can I leave my coat?a question word + can I
Please, word order and common mistakes
Watch for May you open the door?, Can I helps you? and Where I can park? Please goes after the person or at the end: Could you please wait? Answer Could I…? with can: Yes, you can, not Yes, you could.
Common mistakes
Could you to help me?
Could you help me?
no to after can, could and may
May you open the door?
Could you open the door?
may only with I and we
Can I helps you?
Can I help you?
the base verb: no -s, no -ing
Could I open the window? — Yes, you could.
Could I open the window? — Yes, you can.
answer Could I…? with can
Word order and please
Questions: can / could / may comes first, before the person: Can you help me? Where can I park? (Not: Do you can help me? Where I can park?) Please goes after the person or at the end: Could you please wait? · Could you wait, please? Could here is not the past. It is just more polite than can.
More lessons on this grammar: Modal verbs lessons and exercises
Try the can, could and may exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 38 auto-checked exercises
- 5 games
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 picture
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- ask someone to do something with Can you…? or Could you…?: Could you send up two more pillows, please?
- ask for permission with Can I…?, Could I…? or May I…?: May I check out late today? Can we bring our dog?
- use the base verb and keep may for I and we: Could you help me?, not Could you to help me? or May you open the door?
- say yes or no politely: Sure. I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm busy., and answer Could I…? with Yes, you can
- ask wh- questions with can: Where can I park my car? What time can we have breakfast?
- Grammar:
- can / could / may · Can you…? Could you…? · Can I…? May I…? · polite replies
- Topic:
- grammar practice · requests · permission · being polite · hotel
Teaching tips
- Hand out front-desk role cards: one student is a hotel guest with three needs (extra towels, a late checkout, a taxi), the other works at the desk and says yes or I'm sorry, but… with a reason.
- Turn orders into requests: call out commands like Open the window or Wait for me, and students answer with Could you open the window, please? as fast as they can.
- Ask for classroom permission in English: students use May I…? or Can I…? to leave the room, borrow a pen or open a window, and you reply with a full short answer.
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The whole course: English Grammar Practice · A2
English Grammar Practice · A2 has 28 drill lessons, one grammar point each: the past simple and continuous, used to, comparatives, going to and will, the present perfect, modals, the zero and first conditionals and questions. Each has the rule as a scheme, 43 to 47 exercises that check themselves, 15 of them for homework, and no new words.See the course
- 1Past simple with -ed: moving day!
- 2Past simple irregular verbs: we went, we saw, we bought
- 3Past simple negatives and questions: where did the cake go?
- 4Past continuous: what were you doing at 9 p.m.?
- 5Past simple or past continuous: what were you doing when it happened?
- 6Used to: how things were back then
- 7Comparatives: which one is better?
- 8Superlatives: the best in town
- 9As … as, too, enough: is it the right size?
- 10Adverbs of manner: how did she drive?
- 11Much, many, a few, a little: how much do we need?
- 12Possessive pronouns: whose is it?
- 13Be going to: what's your plan?
- 14Will: what will the future bring?
- 15Present continuous for plans: what are you doing tonight?
- 16Will vs going to: decided before or right now?
- 17Present perfect: have you ever tried it?
- 18Just, already, yet: have you done it yet?
- 19For and since: how long have you known her?
- 20Present perfect or past simple: up to now or finished time?
- 21Must and have to: what are the rules?
- 22Should: what should I do?
- 23Can, could, may: could you help me, please?
- 24Verb + to or -ing: what do you enjoy doing?
- 25Zero conditional: what happens if…?
- 26First conditional: what will you do if it rains?
- 27Articles: a, the or no article?
- 28Subject and object questions: who won the quiz?