1. Fancy a drink?
Summary

2. Dear all,Dear all,
Thank you for your input in the Fancy a drink
discussion.
This is how you ranked the various exponents
according to their formality/ appropriacy and
the situations and relationship between the
speakers using these exponents.
You can find some conclusions regarding
exponents and their functions at the end of
this presentation.

3. Could I offer you something to drink?Could I offer you something to drink?
5 (Larisa, Martina, Nevena, Gulia, Elizabeth, Yana, Alla,
Velimira, Thomas, Inna, Evelina, Galiya, Pavla,
Gergana, Sherzod) 6 (Viktoria, Marcia)
• possibly gentleman to lady who he is trying to start a
conversation;
• in an expensive/posh restaurant/café or one with
polite waiters when they take orders; at a plane said
by air-hostess
• delegates attending a conference. The host offers
the attendees drinks

4. Could I offer you something to drink?
• at a formal night gatherings, a man and
woman relationship
• for guests at a formal dinner party, or a
business meeting where they take drink
orders, this would be offered to somebody
that they are not so familiar with
• a host of a house or a party
• polite asking to social or business
acquaintances

5. Fancy a drink?
• 1 (Larisa, Gulia, Viktoria, Michaela, Thomas, Galiya, Sherzod) 2
(Martina, Nevena, Elizabeth, Yana, Alla, Velimira, Marcia, Evelina,
Pavla, Gergana Inna)
• A teenage speaker to another teenage speaker,
boy to girl, at a party, at home or at a friend’s
house i.e. in a very informal situation
• at home, at friends'. The relationship between
speakers is close- they are either family or
friends, probably adults. Such question can be
asked at any time but let’s say after lunch time
while they are talking

6. Fancy a drink?
• At a night bar/night club/café, a man offering a woman a drink, or it
could be a situation where man is trying to get to know the woman
better by offering her a drink
• between two friends, or a man asking out a woman. Short and to
the point. It implies, in my opinion, that alcohol would be drunk
• between two close friends who are young. They may be
coursemates, roommates etc. It can also happen at the party when
a new guest comes. I think this phrase is normal for students'
community
• at the office in the coffee corner (close colleagues)
• A friend to another friend, it could be a situation after work, a
friend informally suggesting going for a drink and maybe have some
fun too – somehow I feel this drink is a alcohol

7. Would you like a drink?
4 (Larisa, Martina, Nevena, Gulia, Elizabeth, Viktoria, Yana, Alla, Velmira,
Marcia, Michaela,Thomas, Evelina, Galiya, Pavla, Gergana, Sherzod
3(Inna)
• in an official/formal setting, or a host trying to be
polite to their guest
• this could be in a professional environment, in a
meeting at the company or in a restaurant. Speakers
are either colleagues or managers and this question
could be also asked by a waiter in a restaurant.
• A waiter in a restaurant or in a in a cafe offering a
client a drink/in a restaurant, a waiter asking a
client/This might be said at a restaurant by a waiter to
customers

8. Would you like a drink?
• an office when a secretary offers a drink to a guest (any time
during the day)
• used with colleagues during official dinner, familiar and non-
familiar people at work, cafe, meeting
• people that we should treat politely - older people, clients,
teachers, simply in an official kind of interaction, e.g. a
businessman offering an important client a drink.
• people they don't not know very well
• in an office between a boss and a visitor, coming to him to
discuss something
• in a plane, between an air hostess and a passenger ; at any
time of the day.; the word "would" makes this sentence more
formal;

9. Do you want a drink?
• 3 (Larisa, Martina, Nevena, Gulia, Elizabeth, Viktoria, Yana,
Alla, Velimira, Marcia, Thomas, Evelina, Galiya, Pavla,
Gergana, Sherzod) 2 (Michaela, Inna)
• casual phrase for very casual occasion
• direct offer, friend to friend, in an unofficial/informal
situation (a visit or s.th similar);
• at the Zoo. Mum or Dad asks his child whether they are
thirsty.
• two acquaintances are chatting at a disco. One of them is
heading for the bar and offers the other a drink
• two housewives which are going to discuss some gossip in
the afternoon having a cup of coffee or tea

10. Do you want a drink?
• relatives, friends, co-workers and etc. The place can be
different, for example at home, in the park, in the café, at work
place and etc. It can be after lunch time or evening as well
• close friends, family – at a friend’s house, at home, in a coffee
shop, at a restaurant
• wife asking her husband if he wants a drink with his lunch) or
• somebody who started learning English use this phrase
• at home, at friends’ house, at the café, at a restaurant, at work
after working hours; at breakfast, lunchtime, dinnertime or at
any time of the day; people who are not very close with; this is a
sentence between informal and formal language, basic everyday
speech

11. I would be delighted to offer you some
refreshment. What would you like?
• 6 (Larisa, Martina, Nevena, Gulia, Elizabeth, Yana, Alla,
Velmira, Michaela, Thomas, Evelina, Galiya, Pavla,
Gergana, Sherzod) 5 (Viktoria)
• formal occasion. Hearer in high authority. Maybe
a hostess to an extremely important guest
• very polite. It could be a rich businessman with
manners or a politician that is meeting an
important person. The speaker is showing
respect to his guest. So this can happen at the
Parliament bar, Hotel Ritz lobby bar (waiter to a
VIP guest) or in a film from the 19th century
about an aristocratic family

12. I would be delighted to offer you some
refreshment. What would you like?
• The president of a country visits an ordinary people in
their home. The host offers a drink.
• It could be at a dinner party, or where there is a formal
atmosphere "refreshment" I guess would be
considered a formal word
• At a top restaurant or formal evening reception and
two guests, a man wearing a tuxedo and a woman
wearing an evening dress. He's trying to get to know
and flirt with her
• by a manager to a partner. Let’s say it’s happening in
the restaurant near a business conference hall after
some business negotiations. It’s closer to evening time.
• people from the Victorian age at an official reception

13. I would be delighted to offer you some
refreshment. What would you like?
• (a host to his guest, probably a highly-regarded one, e.g. a company
hosting representatives from their partner company abroad
• official conference or a public function, where the waiter offers
refreshment to the guests or visitors
• used either by Bre Van de Kamp from the Desperate Housewives
while serving her guests or by the Queen of the United Kingdom.
• at a restaurant or at public and private meetings; at any time of the
day; my father’s polite words (told in Bulgarian) towards people
from the Japanese delegation who arrived in Bulgaria together with
their interpreter. They were invited by my father to our cottage
many years ago
• Special club for laity, In very expensive or extravagant restaurant or
on meeting of politicians

14. Coffee?
• 2 (Larisa, Gulia, Viktoria, Thomas, Galiya, Sherzod) 1 (Martina,
Nevena, Elizabeth, Yana, Alla, Velimira, Marcia, Inna, Evelina,
Pavla, Gergana) 3 (Michaela)
• At a family's table in the morning; A wife and a husband are
having breakfast on Sunday. The husband offers coffee to his
wife, holding the coffee
• at home, at friends'. The relationship between speakers is
close- they are either family or friends, could also be young
people.
• asking a friend or coworker if they want coffee, maybe just as
an off hand thought to offer while they themselves are
getting coffee

15. Coffee?
• between some friends, probably adults when they get
together to do something. And when they take a break
from their activity the time for this question comes
• friends, colleagues, family - casual situation - a guy going
to a coffee machine for a cup of coffee, offering his
colleague one as well. In some situations such an
utterance can have a connotative meaning as well. I
think when a person says this, it doesn't mean just the
drink, it might mean an invitation for a longer chat -
there can be something what needs to be discussed or
gossiped about
• during the picnic in countryside, between family
members

16. Conclusion
– Getting the level of formality right is often termed
appropriacy.
– Context (situation, place, time) and the
relationship between speaker and listener / writer
and audience are important factors to consider
when selecting an exponent.

17. Conclusion
• While many functions can be attributed to specific
exponents, (Why don’t you... = giving advice; Could
you…= polite requests, etc,) the context in which a
particular exponent is used can also be crucially
important. For example, Could you turn down the
lights? might be a polite request when used between
colleagues, but an order if the boss is talking to a
subordinate. In these situations, intonation and
power relationships are often a marker of the actual
function.