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mrsquirrel
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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 Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject: question tags |
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Please tell me one, will you?
Will you is used as a question tag when an imperative is used.
Open the door, will you?
However if you put Please in front of it becomes a request and therefore will you is the incorrect question tag to use since there could be a negative response.
Is this correct?
The middle school book has Please tell me one, will you? which I'm sure is using the wrong question tag but I could just be wrong.
It just doesn't feel right when saying it with the please. |
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oxfordstu
Joined: 28 Aug 2004
Location: Bangkok
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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I think so. I actually never used question tags when speaking until I went to England and found that the people there used them all the time. Phrases like
"That's not right, is it?"
"Going to the market, are you?" etc. |
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antoniothegreat
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Location: Yangpyeong
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| my OPINION, is if the please is in the first part, you are correct, it makes it a request, and can't be tagged. i think a please can go on the tag though to make the tag polite, so it could be ok to say open the door, will you please? |
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Woden
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Location: Eurasia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:41 am Post subject: |
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The best question tag by far is 'Innit'.
This is a universal question tag and so can be attached to most questions or statements, etc.
People seem offended by the use of 'innit' and I am not quite sure why, other than snobbery. Various South Asian languages have universal question tags as do West African languages, I actually think this is where the influence for it in English came from.
So the answer to your question...just say innit, innit.
Last edited by Woden on Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:06 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mister
Joined: 05 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:54 am Post subject: Re: question tags |
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| mrsquirrel wrote: |
The middle school book has Please tell me one, will you? which I'm sure is using the wrong question tag but I could just be wrong.
It just doesn't feel right when saying it with the please. |
This sounds a bit odd.
Probably because it seems very rare.
But I suppose when it's used it's an imperative "polite request question tag."
No intonation. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:22 am Post subject: |
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The best question tag by far is 'Innit'.
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That may be universal in your universe, but my universe is behind the times. Could you please demonstrate its use? |
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Woden
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Location: Eurasia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:28 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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The best question tag by far is 'Innit'.
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That may be universal in your universe, but my universe is behind the times. Could you please demonstrate its use? |
I just did, innit? [didn't I]
It is useful, innit? [isn't it]
I am going the bog now, innit? [aren't I] |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
The best question tag by far is 'Innit'.
This is a universal question tag and so can be attached to any question or statement, etc.
People seem offended by the use of 'innit' and I am not quite sure why, other than snobbery. Various South Asian languages have universal question tags as do West African languages, I actually think this is where the influence for it in English came from.
So the answer to your question...just say innit, innit. |
This can't be serious, eh?
DD |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:16 pm Post subject: Re: question tags |
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| mrsquirrel wrote: |
Please tell me one, will you?
Will you is used as a question tag when an imperative is used.
Open the door, will you?
However if you put Please in front of it becomes a request and therefore will you is the incorrect question tag to use since there could be a negative response.
Is this correct?
The middle school book has Please tell me one, will you? which I'm sure is using the wrong question tag but I could just be wrong.
It just doesn't feel right when saying it with the please. |
I think it's because of a clash of registers, polite and rude.
'Please' is for polite requests but sticking 'will you' on the end to me sounds informal or possibly rude, depending on tone.
I guess if you stressed 'please' and said it in an exasperated tone it might just go with 'will you', but that's a bit too subtle a point for clueless beginner students. Saying 'please...will ya?' in a friendly way doesn't seem natural at all. Who knows, maybe there are places where they talk like that, but that's not enough reason to start teaching it.
So, I'd say you're right. It's like in Korean, using '저는' with '좋아해': it's a solecism because the polite and intimate forms don't match. |
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mrsquirrel
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Sounds desperate. |
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Woden
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Location: Eurasia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
| Quote: |
The best question tag by far is 'Innit'.
This is a universal question tag and so can be attached to any question or statement, etc.
People seem offended by the use of 'innit' and I am not quite sure why, other than snobbery. Various South Asian languages have universal question tags as do West African languages, I actua | | | |
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