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Tomasama · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 18 Location: au

This problem has me stumped.

" Why can't I work this out?"
" Why can not I work this out?"

The latter sentence sounds weird huh? Any folks out there who can explain why? I'll be your best friend Very Happy

!

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I think it's simply the distinction between the informality of the contraction (can't) and the more formal use of the full form. I might actually say it the second way, like this "Why can I NOT WORK THIS OUT??" for emphasis.

But usually this idea would be expressed in an informal situation - I think.

But, what the hey, maybe that's the influence of living most of the year ouside an English speaking country and being married to a non-native speaker, for whom it's not natural to use contractions.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Oh, hey, word order. Why can I not ...
Why not can I...

Tomasama · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 18 Location: au

Thanks spiral78. I had one opinion saying that the contraction survived from middle/early-modern English while the full version did not.
There seems to be a whole string of these gems.

Why do not you have a cup of tea?
Why is not the kettle on?
Was not there some biscuits here?
Have not you got something better to do?

It's a slow day... Rolling Eyes

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Hmm. It is an interesting little collection. One of those iggies I'll solve somewhere in the middle of the night - or never!

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Doesn't it (does it not) go something like this:

1. Do support is used in the place of subject verb inversion for interogatives.
2. Do support requires that the 'do' comes immediately before the nominative.
3. Contractiions of negatives in the do support are treated as a single word (because they are a single word). When the negative is not in the contracted form (ie do not, instead of don't) they are seperate words and therefore treated as such (see rule number 2).
4. Modals follow the same word order rules as as Do support in some dialects of English ("Could he not...?" is not a very common structure in North America).

It's been a while and my grammar book is at home, so I'm not really sure that this is totally accurate, but I think it's the type of thing that Greenbaum and Quirk like to spout.

Zero · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 1402

A word order thing. To me only No. 1 below sounds weird, though they're all only for formal situations or other special circumstances.

Why do you not have a cup of tea?
Why is the kettle not on?
Were there not some biscuits here?
Have you not got something better to do?

11:59

VanKen · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 139 Location: Calgary, AB Canada

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:12 am Post subject:

Well, I think they're two different ideas...

"Why not have a cup of tea?" is a suggestion.
As is "Why don't you have a cup of tea?"

"why do you not/why don't you have a cup of tea?" Is a genuine question...though unusual without a time clause(like "on Monday mornings" (most situations would call for "Why are you not having a cup of tea", I think.)

VanKen · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 139 Location: Calgary, AB Canada

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:25 am Post subject:

Well, I meant a real question(looking for an answer that's unknown to the asker) rather than a suggestion framed as a question. Heck, I don't know.