VOA日常语法2023--Offering Coffee and Tea

Offering Coffee and Tea

Consider a time you asked someone to drink tea, coffee, or soda¹. What kinds of terms and structures did you use?

In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will explore a point of connection between grammar and social situations. We will talk about how to ask others if they would like a drink. You will learn about modals as well as formal and informal kinds of questions.

Let's start with some important terms and ideas.

Modals

Modals play a central part in everyday discussions² about drinks such as coffee or tea.

Modals are short words that change the meaning of the main verb. They express something about the speaker's attitude – whether something is permitted, necessary, possible, and so on.

In English, we have a number of modals. But for the purposes of today's lesson, let's pay careful attention to two of them: would and can.

We generally use "would" to ask a polite question or make a polite offer. We use "can" for the same purpose, although it is a little less formal.

Let's take an example. Imagine you are in your house or working in a restaurant. You want to offer a drink to your guest or customer. We have two ways to do that – one that involves "would" and one that involves "can."

So, you might ask:

Would you like something to drink?

Or

Can I get you something to drink?

The main difference between our two questions is the degree of politeness. Generally, "would" is considered more polite and formal.

Both "would" and "can" are acceptable³ in a number of situations. Your house guest or customer would surely be happy to hear either of them.

With friends, classmates, family

Now let us consider a different kind of situation. Maybe you are out with friends and want to ask them to get something to drink. We can make polite offers with "would" and "can," as in:

Would you like to get tea?

Or

Can I get you a coffee?

But we can also use the helping⁴ verb "do" to ask yes or no questions. For example, you might ask a friend:

Do you want to get a coffee?

Or

Do you want to grab⁵ a drink?

Such structures are friendly but less formal. As a result, you might not want to use them with your teacher or your boss, unless you are very close with them.

Practice

Now let's take some time to work with these ideas.

Imagine you are leading a business meeting with representatives from another company. Your visitors enter the meeting room, and you decide you want to offer them something to drink. How might you make your offer?

Pause the audio⁶ to consider your answer.

There are several possible answers, but the best two choices involve "would" or "can," as in:

Would you like something drink?

Or

Can I offer you something to drink?

These two sentences are polite and acceptable in official situations.

Now consider the following sentence:

Do you want something to drink?

Why is this sentence not the best choice for an official business meeting?

The question is not very formal nor especially polite. So, "Do you want something to drink?" is probably not the best choice to use with representatives from another company.

But, for family and good friends? That's a question they are usually happy to hear!

Closing thoughts

Today we explored a few key ideas that connect to everyday situations – inviting⁷ someone to get a drink, offering a guest something to drink.

There are, of course, other ways to ask if others want something to drink. However, the structures we explored today are among the most commonly used because they work well in most situations.

Words in The Story

modal – n. a verb (such as can or would) that is usually used with another verb to express ideas such as possibility, necessity⁸, etc.

formal – adj. suitable for serious or official speech

informal – adj. having a friendly and relaxed quality

grab – verb to get (something) in a quick and informal way

attitude – n. a mental position with regard to a fact or state

1 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

2 discussions   

n.讨论( discussion的名词复数 )；商讨；详述；论述

参考例句：

• Discussions are held on an informal basis within the department. 讨论限于在本部门内非正式地进行。
• Her specialist input to the discussions has been very useful. 她在这些讨论中提供的专家建议很有助益。

3 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 grab   

vt./n.攫取，抓取；vi.攫取，抓住(at)

参考例句：

• It is rude to grab a seat.抢占座位是不礼貌的。
• The thief made a grab at my bag but I pushed him away.贼想抢我的手提包，但被我推开了。

6 audio   

n./adj.音频(响)(的)；声音(的)，听觉(的)

参考例句：

• Often,the meeting is recorded on audio or video media for later reference.通常这种会议会以视频或者音频形式记录下来，供以后查阅。
• You don't even have to pay for audio programs.你大可不必为自己听这些节目付费。

7 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

8 necessity   

n.必要性，需要；必需品

参考例句：

• I look upon this as an absolute necessity.我认为这是绝对必要的。
• You must understand the necessity of education.你必须懂得教育的必要性。