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MrPedantic
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196478
Mon, 13 Feb 06 11:52 PM
Hello Teo
It may simply be because we rarely have the chance to use some of these tags. For instance, I have no memory at all of using the "hostile" positive-positive version (e.g. "Oh, you do, do you?"), because my humdrum days offer very little opportunity for hostility towards anyone except the incompetent helpdesk operatives at my service provider; and since they're incapable of comprehending a sentence with more than one clause, there wouldn't be any point in throwing a few odd tags at them.
So perhaps we have to think of some of these forms as analogous to the red-backed shrike or the great northern diver: validly present on the British list, but rarely if ever sighted by 96% of natives.
MrP
Joined on
Tue, Oct 12 2004
Veteran Member
12,592
...opella forensis / adducit febris...
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Teo
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472600
Mon, 04 Feb 08 05:52 PM
A: She wouldn't attend the weekly assembly.
B: Oh, she wouldn't, wouldn't she?
(Quoted from Treasury of English Grammar, by Liu Yi)
Oh, he isn't ready, isn't he? [rarely used]
(Quoted from English Q & A, by Prof. Wu Bingzhong)
So you don't like my cooking, don't you?
So you won't speak to me, won't you?
So he wouldn't come, wouldn't he?
(Quoted from Ho's Complete English Grammar, by Ho Limin)
Same-way question tags
Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or negative-positive, it is sometime possible to use a positive-positive or negative-negative structure. We use same-way question tags to express interest, surprise, anger etc, and not to make real questions.
- So you're having a baby, are you? That's wonderful!
- She wants to marry him, does she? Some chance!
- So you think that's amusing, do you? Think again.
Negative-negative tag questions usually sound rather hostile:
- So you don't like my looks, don't you?
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions-tag.htm
Joined on
Tue, Sep 28 2004
Taiwan
Contributing Member
1,631
Thank you very much for your reply.
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CalifJim
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472690
Mon, 04 Feb 08 10:51 PM
Warning: off-topic.
| incompetent helpdesk operatives ... incapable of
comprehending a sentence with more than one clause |
|
Ah,
globalization! You guys across the pond must be outsourcing to
the same groups that we Yanks are. At least the helpdesk symptoms
you describe are the same as what we experience in the U.S.
When the phone lines were down from our last storm, I called the repair
service. The "helper" suggested that I should get the (more
expensive) high-speed computer connection! (Oh, yes, that'll help
a lot, I thought. Don't know why I hadn't thought of it
myself.) I explained that what I had was a no-speed
connection, but that message didn't get through either. She
insisted that I should switch to the high-speed option because the
lower-speed rates were going up anyway, and why would I want to pay
more for less? (And it all turned out to be a lie anyway; the
rates are still the same.) Long story short, the lines were
eventually repaired, with minimum thanks to the help desk.
CJ
Joined on
Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member
22,465
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
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Kooyeen
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472992
Tue, 05 Feb 08 02:03 PM
Wow, I didn't know there were those kinds of "helpers" in the US and the UK too. You must have imported them from Italy.
Joined on
Thu, Dec 22 2005
Italy
Senior Member
4,985
Parental Advisory / Explicit Posts
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CalifJim
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473156
Tue, 05 Feb 08 09:17 PM
It is said that the Mongolians used to wear pigtails, while the Chinese practiced footbinding.
When the two cultures eventually came together, you might think that,
through the mixing of ideas, both cultures would give up these strange
practices. But in fact the Mongolians started footbinding, and
the Chinese began to wear pigtails.
I always think of this anecdote (whether it's true or not) as a cautionary tale in our era of globalization.
CJ
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Teo
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550090
Sat, 02 Aug 08 06:54 PM
 CalifJim“It is said that the Mongolians used to wear pigtails, while the Chinese practiced footbinding.
When the two cultures eventually came together, you might think that, through the mixing of ideas, both cultures would give up these strange practices. But in fact the Mongolians started footbinding, and the Chinese began to wear pigtails.”
It was the Manchus, not the Mongolians, that used to wear pigtails.
When the Manchus conquered the Chinese, it was the Manchus, not the Mongolians, who started footbinding,
The Chinese were forced to wear pigtails by the Manchu government.
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CalifJim
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550357
Sun, 03 Aug 08 05:21 PM
I had a feeling the anecdote was not accurate. Thanks for the added information!  CJ
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sitifan
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947816
Tue, 20 Oct 09 06:22 AM
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions-tag.htm
Same-way question tags
Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or negative-positive, it is sometime possible to use a positive-positive or negative-negative structure. We use same-way question tags to express interest, surprise, anger etc, and not to make real questions.
--
Why use sometime? Is it a typo?
Joined on
Fri, Mar 14 2008
Taiwan
Full Member
230
Thank you very much for your reply.
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raindoctor
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947843
Tue, 20 Oct 09 07:09 AM
sitifan “ http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions-tag.htm
Same-way question tags
Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or negative-positive, it is sometime possible to use a positive-positive or negative-negative structure. We use same-way question tags to express interest, surprise, anger etc, and not to make real questions.
--
Why use sometime? Is it a typo? ”
It's not a typo. Such tags are extensively discussed in works on English intonation, like Bolinger's.
"Unmarked or normal tag questions are
rhetorical questions; cf. "She won, didn't she?" and "He didn't get hurt
too badly, did he?" They generally end in a falling cadence, since they don't
pose genuine interrogations. Marked tag questions (negative in neither part) have a
rising cadence; if uttered with a contracted tessatura, they can have such an
inappropriate de-focusing as to suggest, e.g., a minatory intent in the following
example: http://www.orlapubs.com/AL/L6.html "
Joined on
Sun, Apr 26 2009
Junior Member
69
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