Miss Elaine Eos typed thusly:
> In article <MPG.1c50dba7c2afeb5998ac87@news.individual.net>,
> the Omrud <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > Hello, good morning.
> > > > > Can I talk to Mr. Benito?
> > > >
> > > > May I please speak with Mr. Benito?
> >
> > In any case, the version above is not preferred in UK English.
> > "speak with" sounds like pretentious management language. There's
> > nothing wrong with "speak to".
>
> No one suggested "speak to"; "speak with" was offered as a correction to
> "talk to" but, more importantly, "may I" is the correction for "can I."
That depends whether the caller is asking for permission, or asking
whether it is literally possible. It may be that Mr Benito is not
there. In which case, the caller *cannot* talk to him.
> Can I talk to Mr. Benito? Poor
These days, nearly everybody uses this form, except for people
learning English as a foreign language.
> May I talk to Mr. Benito? Slightly better
> May I speak to Mr. Benito? Acceptable, common usage.
That's what I would say. But it's not correct to say that "speak" is
better English than "talk".
> May I speak with Mr. Benito? Also correct, slightly more
> formal, preferred usage among
> educated speakers.
Not in the UK. It sounds pretentious.
I'm afraid that "rules" in English text books are not always correct,
and may be very out of date.
--
David
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