{"id":79,"date":"2013-08-12T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T08:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monkeygrammar.org\/index.php\/2013\/08\/12\/can-vs-could-negotiation\/"},"modified":"2020-04-15T14:40:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:40:03","slug":"can-vs-could-negotiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/can-vs-could-negotiation\/","title":{"rendered":"Can VS Could (Negotiation)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Summary: This post is about how to negotiate<\/b> well<\/b> with regard to the differences between ‘can<\/b>‘ and ‘could<\/b>‘.   You will learn how to negotiate with others by giving them more ‘space’<\/b>, which means you are more polite<\/b>.  <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
Do you have to <\/span>negotiate<\/span><\/span> a lot?  When firm A offers you a price, do you have to <\/span>counter the offer<\/span><\/span>?  Or when a taxi driver negotiates fares with you, what will you say?<\/span><\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Well, if you want to <\/span>negotiate well<\/span>,<\/span><\/span> you have to use \u2018if\u2019.  If you want to <\/span>upgrade<\/span><\/span> your <\/span>English<\/span><\/span>, you have to use \u2018if\u2019 too. You can, in fact, use it in two ways.  Which two ways? Read the two sentences:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
1. If you <\/span>can<\/span><\/span> offer us <\/span>a better price<\/span>,  we <\/span>could<\/span><\/span> consider<\/span> a joint venture<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

2.  If you <\/span>could<\/span> <\/span><\/span>offer us <\/span>a better price<\/span>,   we <\/span>could<\/span><\/span> <\/span>consider <\/span>a joint venture<\/span>. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
What are the<\/span> <\/span>differences<\/span><\/span> between the two? I think you\u2019ve got it.  The only difference is:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
                                    <\/span><\/span>can<\/span> VS <\/span>could<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
So what?  It seems like \u2018could\u2019 is the past form of \u2018can\u2019, right?  Well, it is, <\/span>sometimes<\/span><\/span>. But <\/span>not <\/span>for the above two sentences.  Both \u2018can\u2019 and \u2018could\u2019 here refer to something <\/span>in the future<\/span>, something that <\/span>may<\/span><\/span> happen<\/span>, or something that <\/span>might<\/span><\/span> happen<\/span>.  In a word, the difference between the two is <\/span>not<\/span><\/span> about<\/span> <\/span>past<\/span> and <\/span>present tenses<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
It is a question of <\/span>politeness<\/span><\/span>.  (What is<\/span> politeness<\/span>?  Look at the woman in the photo.  Do you think she is polite?)<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Most grammar books tell you that \u2018could\u2019 is more polite than \u2018can\u2019, right?  <\/span>But why<\/span><\/span><\/span>?  Why is \u2018could\u2019 <\/span>more polite<\/span>?  <\/span>Why is <\/span><\/span>the past form<\/span> <\/span>of \u2018can\u2019<\/span> <\/span>more polite<\/span> than \u2018can<\/span>\u2019? <\/span>You can find the answer in the following diagram:<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

                <\/span>    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
If <\/span>can<\/span> <\/span><\/span>is 10m away from a person, then <\/span>could<\/span><\/span> is 20m away.  In English, the <\/span>longer<\/span><\/span> the distance, the <\/span>more polite<\/span><\/span> it is.  In other words, when you use \u2018could\u2019, you give the other more room (<\/span>space<\/span>), which means you are <\/span>more polite<\/span><\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
So, when you want to be polite with your coworkers, you may say:  <\/span>Could<\/span> <\/span><\/span>you <\/span>do me<\/span><\/span> a favor?  <\/span>Could<\/span><\/span> <\/span>you<\/span> <\/span>send me<\/span><\/span> a copy of the document (<\/span>we discussed last night<\/span>)? <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: This post is about how to negotiate well with regard to the differences between ‘can‘ and ‘could‘.   You will learn how to negotiate with others by giving them more ‘space’, which means you are more polite.   Do you have to negotiate a lot?  When firm A offers you a price, do you have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Run-a-business-600-x-400.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":763,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions\/763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}