Hello everyone,
What is the meaning of “to please consider”. Are they 2 verbs and why 2 verbs can stand together?
We are asking people to please consider making a contribution to our mission, which is to support Democratic candidates at the local, state and national level and to advocate for issues that we care about.
Thank you.
I don’t think we have two verbs in a row here—please is an adverb in the sentence. You can see it used as a polite addition to requests in sentences like this: “Will you please turn the radio off?”
Rephrased, the original could read: We are asking people, “Please consider making a contribution to our mission” (turning it into direct speech.)
Perhaps -
“Will you please turn the radio off?” → please is an exclamation here, not a verb, I think so.
Well, well. 1. “Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.”
Exclamation is not a part of speech, it is “a sudden cry or remark expressing surprise, strong emotion, or pain.”
2. The word please in the original was used as an adverb.
“please
adverb
a word added to an order or request in order to be polite—Please open the window. Close the door, please. Will you please come with me?”
thefreedictionary.com/%20please
3. Good dictionary could probably help.
please
exclamation UK /pliːz/ US /pliːz/
A1 used to make a request more polite:
Could I have two coffees and a tea, please?
Please remember to close the windows before you leave.
used to add force to a request or demand:
Please, David, put the knife down.
Oh, please. Do shut up!
uk used especially by children to a teacher or other adult in order to get their attention:
Please, Miss, I know the answer!
Strangely, the link you‘re referring to–Please—doesn't - definition of please—doesn't by The Free Dictionary have the examples you’ve provided.
–sounds quite obscure to me keeping in mind that
“exclamation–a sudden cry or remark expressing surprise, strong emotion, or pain.”
Making a request more polite by a sudden cry is something I’d like to see.
Staying with “Will you please turn the radio off?” which you’re trying to make an exclamatory sentence, I don’t see why on earth you should express any strong emotion there (please serves just as a polite addition to your request.)
To sound exclamatory, it should be rephrased like, ”Please, please, turn the radio off!”
Any new ideas?..
There are many different explanations about “please.”
Here are just two to share with my fellow members/guests.
1.“Please do as you are told.”
a. “Please” … is now felt to be an auxiliary verb to be used in polite commands or requests."
– House and Harman, Descriptive English Grammar (1931 and 1950), pages 109 and 336.
a. “Please” in those sentences is a subjunctive (may it please you) used as a sentence adverb.
– Curme, A Grammar of the English Language (1931), page 132.