First decide what do you want: * Is the change mandatory for your approval? Then be polite and firm with reasoning - "This is poorly readable and doesn't confo

First decide what do you want: * Is the change mandatory for your approval? Then be polite and firm with reasoning - "This is poorly readable and doesn't conform to our code style chapter 5. Please extract this into a separate function.". Don't mess around with "Should, Could, I would" starters when it's not a question - be clear what you're asking. * Are you trying to start a debate? Then ask a question properly - "I think this is unreadable because of A, B, C. Do you think extracting this will help readability?" Again, be clear it's a question. * Are you saying an opinion and you're not very hung up on it? Mark it as such - I tend to put "Optional" or "Nit:" (team term) in those cases. "Nitpick/Optional: I think this isn't readable, if you have a moment maybe extract the method?" The worst you can do is veil your intent (order/question/opinion) into faux questions which will confuse people - especially if they're non-native english speakers. Adding background / explanation / context for your comment always helps too.