Abstract

Abstract
The present study concentrate on the various formats of the politeness formula which can be exhibited in: requests, offers, and thanks. The researcher draws on materials from The Sandbox by Edward Albee, making the point that these acts are rather complex, involving potential threat to the speaker’s and/or hearer’s face. The analysis initiates that in both languages the speaker’s primary goal is to minimize any threat to her/his face and to the face of the hearer: however, the method deployed to undertake this objective is exemplified in the selected passages from the play. It is the modals and questions which are favored because English is a language which seems to obtain few syntactic downgrades, whereas other languages, perhaps, don’t.
The passages selected are conversations or dialogues between the characters of the play. They represent the everyday life activities and situations through the language used. The requests, offers, and thanks which are used in the play can easily be seen in everyday conversations and dialogue. The conclusion arrived at the end of the research, among other things shows that these politeness principles used in the play are no less than the writer’s way to express his mode and method of writing as a mirror to true life through the language used.