same way question tag

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MrPedantic

#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

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Forum Guru (11,804)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Clauses

Teo

#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

Teo

Joined on Tue, Sep 28 2004

Taiwan

Senior Member (1,582)

Thank you very much for your reply.

English grammar, Grammar, Negatives, Verbs

CalifJim

#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

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Forum Guru (15,629)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Clauses

Kooyeen

#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.

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Pre Guru (3,652)

*Parental Advisory* Explicit Posts

CalifJim

#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

CalifJim

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