COURTESY譯成"禮貌"。但是根據西方國家函電書籍作者普遍的看法，所謂COURTESY是"客氣而又體諒人"的意思。有的作者還把 COURTESY和POLITENESS這兩個同義詞做了比較，認為：POLITENESS的客氣只是表現在文章的語句上，而COURTESY則表現在對對方的"體諒"，例如：

　　a) We have received with many thanks your letter of Oct.7, and we take the pleasure of sending you latest catalog. We wish to draw your attention to a special offer, which we have made in it. [polite]

　　b) you will be particularly interested in a special offer on page 5 of the latest catalog enclosed, which you requested in your letter of Oct. 7.

　　You ought to Perhaps you could…… Your letter is not clear at all; I can't understand it. If I understand your letter correctly... Obviously, if you'd read your policy carefully, You'd be able to answer these questions yourself. Sometimes policy wording is a little hard to understand glad to clear up these questions for you. [courtesy]

　　怎樣通過各種語言形式來表達COURTESY呢? 這樣的形式很多，現在提供一些常見的供參考：

　　(一) 把命令變成請求的常用形式：

　　Please, Will you…….., Will you please……..,如：

　　a) Will you give us more detailed information on your requirement?

　　b) Will you please (kindly) let us hear from you on these two points?

　　(二) 虛擬式(Past Subjunctive From)如：

　　a) Would you compare our sample with the goods of other firms?

　　b) We would ask you to ship the goods by the first available vessel.

　　c) We wish you would let us have your reply soon.

　　d) This would seem to confirm our opinion.

　　e) We should be grateful if you would help us with your suggestion.

　　f) We think if advisable that you should accept this offer at this price.

　　g) We should(would) like you to let us know the exact amount.

　　h) Perhaps you might like to have a look at the actual goods.

　　i) We might be of some service to you in a similar case.

　　以上的b, f, g, 也可用 will, shall, may, 但是用Past Subjunctive Form則表示更客氣和婉轉些。

　　(三) 緩和用法(Mitigation)

　　為了緩和過分強調或刺激對方，常用: We are afraid, we would say, we may(or, might) say, we(would) think, it seems(or would seem) to us, we(would) suggest, as you are (or: may be) aware, as we need hardly point out等等表達法來緩和語氣，如：

　　a) It was unwise of you to have done that. We would say that it was unwise of you to have done that.

　　b) You ought to have done it. 　 It seems to us that you ought to have done it.

　　c) We cannot comply with your request. 　 We are afraid we cannot comply with your request.

　　d) Our products are the very best on the market. 　 We might say that our products are the very best on the market.

　　e) You must keep the matter to yourselves. 　 You must, we would add, keep the matter to yourselves.

　　f) You must cut off your order in half 　 We would suggest that you cut your order in half.

　　g) We have not yet had your reply. 　 It appears that we have not yet had your reply.