Real Grammar - Susan Conrad, Douglas Biber 2009
Simple Past Tense in Polite Offers
Unit 1 Did you want more coffee?
What have you learned from your grammar textbook?
The simple past tense is used for (1) actions, (2) states, and (3) situations that happened in the past and are finished:
1. I traveled to Hawaii last year.
2. He was a writer.
3. —Did you have a good weekend?
—No, we didn’t.
What does the corpus show?
A
In conversation, sometimes people use the simple past of want or need in order to make an offer or ask someone’s preference. Questions are formed with did + want/need, but they refer to the present time:
• Did you want more coffee? [Waiter asking a customer.]
• Did you need your receipt? [Clerk asking a customer.]
In these questions, using the simple past is a way of being less direct. Therefore, did you want/need sounds more polite than do you want/need. Even some good friends use the polite form with each other.
Note: Would you like is also commonly used to make polite offers:
• Would you like more coffee?
B
Answers to these questions are usually NOT in the simple past. They can be in the simple present, present progressive, or future, or a simple answer may have no verb:
* When saying “No” to an offer, Americans often say, “I’m fine,” meaning “I’m fine without that.”
C
Often, only the first offer in a conversation is in the simple past. Later offers are in the simple present:
Therese: Nancy, did you want pie?
Nancy: Yes, sure.
Therese: Do you want cake, too?
Nancy: No, I’ll try the pie this time.
Waiter: Did you want that right away or do you want to wait for your meal?
Customer: No, we’ll wait for the meal.
D
Be careful! Do NOT use the simple past if you are asking for information, not making an offer:
• Do you want to play the clarinet?
NOT: Did you want to play the clarinet?
Activities
1 Notice in context: Read the conversations, underline each did + verb that is an offer. Circle the verb in the answer. (If there is more than one verb in the offer or answer, underline or circle both verbs.)
1. In a store.
Clerk: Did you want this receipt in the bag?
Customer: Ah yeah, that’ll be fine.
Clerk: There you go. Thank you.
2. Friends visiting.
John: Did you want any tea?
Anisa: No, I’m fine thank you.
3. Making evening plans.
Manuel: Well, did you want to eat first before you walk, or do you want to walk and then come back and eat?
Sally: Oh, uh, I just need to finish writing this email, then I’ll go for a walk.
4. In a store.
Clerk: Did you need a bag for this at all or ...
Customer: Uh no it’s okay.
2 Analyze discourse: Look back at Activity 1 and at the verbs you circled. Write the tense of each one of these verbs in the margin. Draw an arrow between the verb and its tense.
3 Practice conversation: Complete the first conversation. Then write conversations for the situations in 2 and 3. In each conversation, make an offer or ask about preferences, and create an appropriate answer. When you are finished, practice the conversations with a partner.
1. Maria and Luciana ask for water in a restaurant. Maria wants ice. Luciana does not.
Waiter: Can I get you something to drink?
Maria: I’d like to start with water, please.
Luciana: Me too.
Waiter: Okay. Did you want it with ice?
Maria: ...
Luciana: ...
2. Lisa asks Anna if she needs a ride home after tennis practice, but Anna’s friend Kirby is supposed to pick her up.
Lisa: ...
Anna: ...
3. Philip asks Juan if he wants more chocolate. Juan loves chocolate and has some. Philip then offers him some peanuts, but Juan does not want any.
Philip: ...
Juan: ...
Philip: ...
Juan: ...
4 Practice conversation: invent a situation in which one person makes an offer to another person or asks what that person's preferences are. Then write a conversation for it. When you are finished, practice the conversation with a partner.
Situation: ...
Conversation: ...
A: ...
B: ...
A: ...
B: ...