Word Family Worksheets

POLITE = You ARE well-mannered, civilized

COURTEOUS = Displaying good manners/showing thought or regard for others

So if I describe someone as polite, it's their trait of character; they're either polite or a primitive monkey. If I describe someone as courteous, it's because of the actions they display like opening a door for someone, paying for someone's mountain of food and booze, or listening before offering an opinion etc. 

❗ However, in everyday English, we often substitute COURTEOUS with POLITE. So with polite, you can't really make a mistake. 

There are collocations to learn where the words or not interchangeable:

👉🏻 Common courtesy =the expected thing to do

- it's common courtesy for a man to hold the door open for a lady 

- In England it's common courtesy not to take your filthy shoes off when entering someone's house

👉🏻 Out of politeness = doing it for the reason of being polite

- I decided not to push that man in front of the bus out of politeness. 

- I always say please and thank you out of politeness!