YOU'RE all by yourself at an MRT station or bus stop when a total stranger suddenly walks to just a few inches of you and blurts out this question close to your face: 'What time is it?' No matter how harmless or decent-looking the stranger, you'd likely feel a deep sense of intrusion, as if somebody has just barged into your bedroom from the outside in the dead of night. You may not say a word, but your sense of violation would be real. This is because when asked direct questions like 'What time is it?' point-blank, the preliminary amenities neglected, people instinctively resist answering and oftentimes become downright hostile.

This is where the art of asking indirect questions comes in. Using them instead of direct ones in socially unstructured settings has the pleasant effect of 'breaking the ice,' so to speak. It lowers resistance to intrusion on privacy and prompts people to give the requested information willingly and without aggravation. Thus, in the situation described above, you probably would have obliged the stranger with the desired information had he used this classic indirect question, 'Hi! I wonder if you can give me the time,' or, with less familiarity, 'Excuse me...May I know what time it is?'