to hedging and attempts to avoid conflict, some strategies of positive politeness include statements of friendship, solidarity, compliments, and the following examples from Brown and Levinson: Situations and examples Attend to H's interests, needs, wants You look sad. Can I help you? Use solidarity in-group identity markers Hey, mate, could you lend me 3 dollars? Be optimistic Don't worry. You'll do just fine! Include both speaker (S) and hearer (H) in activity You and I are going swimming together! Make offers or promises If you wash the dishes, then I'll vacuum the floor. Exaggerate interest in H and his interests That's a nice haircut. Where'd you get it? Avoid disagreement Yeah, it's rather long; it only looks short from a distance. Make jokes Your hair's even longer than my uncle's! Other purposes and usages Positive politeness strategies can also emerge in situations where the speakers do not know each other well. For example, Charlotte Rees and Lynn Knight have explored the role politeness theory plays in general practice consultations. They found that, in an effort to remain polite, patients agreed to the presence of a student observer during a general practice consultation even when the patient preferred a private consultation. Rees and Knight concluded that politeness strategies in the medical field can inhibit patients from providing complete and accurate information. Another use of positive politeness is polite or formal speech such as Japanese honorifics. Again, this type of formal speech can be used to protect the hearer's positive face. Negative politeness Negative politeness strategies are oriented towards the hearer's negative face and emphasize avoidance of imposition on the hearer. By attempting to avoid imposition from the speaker, the risk of face-threat to the hearer is reduced. These strategies presume that the speaker will be imposing on the listener and there is a higher potential for awkwardness or embarrassment than in bald on record strategies and positive politeness strategies. Examples from Brown and Levinson include: Situations and examples Be indirect Would you know where Oxford Street is? Use hedges or questions Perhaps, he might have taken it, maybe. Could you please pass the rice? Be pessimistic You couldn't find your way to lending me a thousand dollars, could you? So I suppose some help is out of the question, then? Minimize the imposition It's not too much out of your way, just a couple of blocks. Use obviating structures, like nominalizations,