Did not you tell me vs didn't you tell me

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Anonymous

#389161 Sat, 07 Jul 07 07:53 PM

Hi all.

Just a quick question.

Why is it that we can say: 'why didn't you tell me' but can't say 'why did not you tell me' and have to invert the pronoun if the contracted form isn't used?

Thanks

Anonymous

Nouns, Pronouns

Clive

#389184 Sat, 07 Jul 07 09:05 PM

Hi,

Why is it that we can say: 'why didn't you tell me' but can't say 'why did not you tell me' and have to invert the pronoun if the contracted form isn't used?

We can say 'why did not you tell me?', but we just don't say it. It's not idiomatic.

We can also say 'why did you not tell me?' We do sometimes say this if we want to stress the 'not' in certain contexts.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (22,568)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Nouns, Pronouns

CalifJim

#389322 Sun, 08 Jul 07 08:08 AM

Why is it that we can say: 'why didn't you tell me' but can't say 'why did not you tell me' and have to invert the pronoun if the contracted form isn't used?

For the exact same reason we can say "They are", but can't say "They is". It's a rule of English. Smile [:)]

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,794)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Nouns, Pronouns

Anonymous

#390264 Tue, 10 Jul 07 12:10 PM

No CJ. That's very different. We can't say 'they is' because it is ungrammatical in terms of number agreement. 'they' 3rd person plural. 'is' 3rd person singular. Whilst my question is completely unrelated to number agreement. Come on, CJ, you should that. Rudimentary stuff!

I think the first replier had the right idea: it is not ungrammatical just unidiomatic.

Any more takes...

Anonymous

Plurals, Numbers

CalifJim

#390515 Tue, 10 Jul 07 09:17 PM

It seems you knew the answer before you asked the question.

The point I was making has nothing to do with any specific rule. It has to do with the fact that it is a "rule".

"Rule" 14827739 (or whatever number you want to give it): Subjects and verbs agree in number.
"Rule" 40378299 (or whatever): In forming an interrogative, do not invert the negative not with the verb unless it is attached as a contraction to the verb.

In short, I consider Do not you agree? ungrammatical, not just unidiomatic.

The division between ungrammatical and unidiomatic is not fixed. In either case you end up with a structure that is not intentionally used by native speakers. Maybe I draw the line differently than others. I don't see why that's such a problem.

(If you want to discuss the difference between grammaticality and idiomaticity further, you may want to start a thread in the linguistics forum.)

CJ

CalifJim

Verbs, Difference Between, Numbers, Negatives, Contractions