.

Sorry, correction:

I would be pleased if someone can give me a clue. ;o)

Thanks in advance.

We should be much obliged if you...

VERY POLITE business English
not over the top

in America
We would be much obliged if you ...

Mags is right, very correct business english, if you want to express that someone you don't know that well or is a lot higher in hierarchy needs to do something for you, which they are not obligated to do at all, but would help you a lot.

I also use in those cases "kindly respond at you earliest convenience" which means in German sort of " ich wuerde mich sehr freuen, wenn Sie mir kurzfristig, soweit es Ihre Zeit erlaubt, antworten koennten"

http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxshall...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will

In traditional British English, the forms 'shall' and 'should' were used as the first-person forms of the verb 'will' to express a future or conditional meaning, a simple prediction with no emotional involvement.

I shall (see him tomorrow. I expect it to happen.)
you will
he, she, it will
we shall
you will
they will

I thought I should (see him the next day. I expected it to happen.)
you would
he, she, it would
we should
you would
they would

I should (like to see him. It would make me happy.)
you would
he, she, it would
we should
you would
they would

The forms 'will' and 'would' were used as the first-person forms of the verb 'shall,' to express an intention or strong determination. This is the same 'shall' as that used in legal language, to express a command or strong obligation.

I will (go tomorrow! I'm determined!)
you shall
he, she, it shall
we will
you shall
they shall

I vowed I would (fight to the end! No one could stop me!)
you should
he, she, it should
we would
you should
they should

This whole half-and-half system was obviously very confusing, which helps explain why hardly anyone still uses it, except perhaps for a very few conservative traditionalist Britons. Nowadays the vast majority of English speakers use 'will' for all persons in the future and conditional, and 'shall' for all persons to express strong intention or obligation.

'Much obliged' is also rather old-fashioned and quaint-sounding, if not quite as completely out of date. Today, most people would write 'I would appreciate it very much if you ...'

So in my opinion, you should not have to learn an antiquated sentence like that at all. Your textbook doesn't seem to be a very current one.

Thanks to everyone.

The book was published in 2004!

@hm, thanks for that extremely competent and clear explanation of something I once used to know and had long forgotten!