|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > a question starting with the negative form
a question starting with the negative form
|
piranhac
|
a question starting with the negative form
|
|
I would like to know if we can ask a question starting with the negative form Is it grammatical to say? "Doesn �t it feel like our time is running out?" "Aren �t the Arab Revolutions a conspiracy?" Thank you for your help! :) |
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
|
Gi2gi
|
|
Yes, it is absolutely correct. Another correct option would be : Does it not feel like our time is running out? / Are the Arab Revolutions not a conspiracy?...
|
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
ohermann
|
|
Yes, it is correct. But, as far as I know, when a negative question doesn�t use a question word (why, where, etc.), it usually expresses a kind of feeling of the speaker, such as anger, annoyance, grumpiness and other kinds of feelings. Oto
|
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
yanogator
|
|
@Giorgi, Your second options (with "not") are considered to be very formal, and most people wouldn �t use them at all, except in very formal writing, and maybe not even then. They are sometimes used for rhetorical effect, to add weight to the question, along the lines of "Aren �t you aware that..." or "Do you really believe that...". @Oto, First, we just don �t hear enough from you on the Forum. Second, I don �t think you �re quite right about that. I think that you �re referring to the rhetorical effect that I mentioned above when "not" is used. Anyway, these questions are usually used to ask for confirmation, expressing some level of doubt. To use your two examples, which, as Giorgi said, are correct: The first one would be used along the lines of "Does it feel to you, as it does to me, that our time is running out?" The second one would be looking for the hearer �s agreement with the speaker �s opinion. "Do you agree that the Arab revolutions are a conspiracy?" Now that I have thought about Oto �s comment more, I can give an example of using this form to show annoyance, supporting his explanation: Haven �t I already answered this questions? We would say this to show annoyance at the person for asking the same question again. Bruce |
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
Yes - negatively framed questions are expecting confirmation. They can be rhetorical in style. *�Has she not style? Has she not fragrance? Is she not irresistible? � This speaker is smitten and expects no contradiction. And they can express annoyance. �Are you ready yet? � - simple question. Aren �t you ready yet? � - Get a move on! Just my two penn �orth!
(* These (or something similar, can�t find a link, were the words of a high court judge about Mary Archer, whose husband writer and politician Jeffrey Archer had a fling with a sex worker. The judge could not believe it.)
|
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
yanogator
|
|
@Lynne, Is that construction common in England - "Has she not style?" Here we would say "Doesn �t she have style?" Bruce |
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
@Bruce - I just edited my post....
And so now to edit this one - that was just an example to show this old-fashioned, stylised usage. |
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
almaz
|
|
And on a related but lighter note, doesn�t this thread remind anyone of Betteridge�s Law of Headlines: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no"? Lynne, the judge was Mr Justice Caulfield (although some naughty rags apparently misattributed the quote to his namesake Holden).
|
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
yanogator
|
|
Alex, your link didn �t work for me. Bruce
|
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
piranhac
|
|
thank you all for your valuable replies. |
6 Jun 2015
|
|
|
|
|
