Please somebody do something

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 858AAyrrij

Is it common for native speakers to ask somebody to do something using this structure?
Please + sb + V [+ sth].

I always view it as a Chinese-English pattern because it is a common Chinese pattern to ask somebody to do something, especially when the speaker is not directly talking to that person. I’m not sure whether it has been already accepted by some English speakers or not.

For instance, in an email to a group of people, I want to ask Bill, who is also in the cc list, to do something. Can I write:

Dear ALL,
To make it clearer, plesae Bill tell us how to solve the problem.

2

It would be more common to say “Bill, please tell us how to solve the problem”, but your pattern is sometimes used by native speakers, and it doesn’t feel like an import from Chinese-English. However, when you write it you need commas:

“Please, Bill, tell us how to solve the problem.”

There is no feeling in English that you are somehow addressing Bill “less directly”.

3

Thank you, Dozy.