Introducing English Linguistics

Thanks very much
indeed for your call Nelly. 
(BNC FX5 329)
Thank you
Mister Smith for calling Pacific Bell 
(SBCSAE)
If an offer of something is turned down, the addressee is placed in an
awkward situation, since declining someone’s generosity can lead to a
potential FTA. In the examples below, the expressives no thank you or  no
thanks help mitigate the FTA by explicitly marking the addressee’s grati-
tude. The speaker in the second example goes one step further by actual-
ly explaining why he is turning down an offer of orange juice.
Speaker A: Do you want any more cake?
Speaker B: No thank you. 
(BNC JBB 591)
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INTRODUCING ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

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Speaker A: Juice, Warren?
Speaker B: No thanks, I can’t drink OJ anymore
(SBCSAE)
Compliments can also be awkward for the addressee, since they work
against Leech’s (1983: 136–8) modesty maxim, which stipulates that speak-
ers should “minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self.” Thank you
as well as other communicative strategies can be used to mitigate viola-
tions of this maxim. For instance, in the example below, the speaker
thanks someone who had complimented his business practices. But in
addition to simply offering thanks, he also attempts to minimize his
accomplishments by describing the compliment as “too generous” and
noting that other companies had done work similar to what he had done.
Thank you
. Well, thank you for the kind remarks. I think they’re perhaps, if
anything too generous because er, I will remind you as I said of the, at least
three hundred companies who are doing pretty effective work in this area 
(BNC JNL 92)
In addition to modesty, Leech (1983) describes other communicative
acts calling for various levels of politeness. His generosity maxim –“mini-
mize benefit to self; maximize cost to self ” (p. 133) – explains why while
it is perfectly acceptable to lend something to someone (the first example
below), if individuals want someone to lend something to them, then they
have to use heavily mitigated forms such as please and I promise I’ll pay you
back at the end of the second example:
Well see, if you’re desperate for a machine I’ll lend you one something
to do doodles on. 
(BNC KB9 4640)
Do you think you can lend me some money, please, I promise I’ll pay you
back 
(BNC KP6 2689)
Leech’s (1983: 135) approbation maxim (“minimize dispraise of other;
maximize praise of other”) explains why when speakers and writers criti-
cize the Iraq war, they often go out of their way to praise the individuals
fighting the war and their families so that criticism of the war is not inad-
vertently linked to criticism of those fighting the war:
Decisions by President Bush offer little hope that our brave soldiers and
Marines will face anything but more death, maiming and grief for their