[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
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Latest post Thu, Mar 18 2004 11:19 PM by awesome95. 1 replies.
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awesome95  +  25893 Thu, 18 Mar 04 11:19 PM
It's okay to say:What part of the dinner don't you like?
But why not (or is it?): What part of the dinner do not you like?
Thanks
Joined on Wed, Jan 28 2004
New Member 18
rommie  +  25926 Fri, 19 Mar 04 07:55 AM
It's "...do you not like".

I suppose the answer is that the negation of "to like" is "not to like". So, in the present tense, the negation of "like" is "not like". The correct word order is therefore "...do you not like".

However, as you quite rightly point out, it *IS* abbreviated to "don't you like". That does make sense if you regard "don't" as a separate word. (There's no such word as "doyoun't"). You can't put one word inside another word (except in very unusual circumstances), so if you're going to use "don't" it will have to go either one side or the other of "you". It definitely can't go after the "you" because that would completely change the meaning, so the only option left is before.

Curiously, "...do not you like" is probably not actually formally incorrect, just very, very unusual.

Rommie
Joined on Mon, Jan 26 2004
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