| Does Will you ask him for help? imply I'll be happy if you do (ask him) or I want you to ask him? I'd say so. |
|
No.
imply is too strong a word. There is a reading
of 1 below which means essentially the same as 2 below, but another
reading of 1 which means essentially 3.
1 Will you ask him for help?
2 Would you (please) ask him for help? / Could you (please) ask him for help?
3 Do you intend to ask him for help? / Are you going
to ask him for help? / Is it your decision to ask him for help?
This is a matter of using the same words with different shades of
meaning in different situations, not a matter of one statement implying
another.
Are you going to ask him for help? cannot take the reading in 2, no. At least I can't think of a context where that makes sense.
So in this particular choice, the questioner may show a bit more self-interest by using the
will form. I don't think this should be taken as a universal fact which differentiates the two forms, however.
Addition of the progressive just increases the "liveliness" or
"descriptiveness" of the action of asking. It does strongly mask
any tendency to read it as in 2 above, as you say.
Curiously, what is added (on one possible reading) is an element
of prying - and the idea of self-interest again.
Will you be ...ing? -- Because if so, could you ... for me, too?
CJ