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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 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 |
If you are not from UK, particularly if you are from North America, it probably sounds implausible, but it is not.
Is that what you meant, you think I am making it up, or am mistaken?
'Eh' is a good little question tag, a similar amount of versatility as the 'innit'. |
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mrsquirrel
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't Canadians and Kiwis use aeh as a question tag. |
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Woden
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Location: Eurasia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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| mrsquirrel wrote: |
| Don't Canadians and Kiwis use aeh as a question tag. |
Yeh, Kiwis use it the most from my experience.
I was talking about 'innit' maybe seeming implausible to N. Americans. Its most common use is just as a contraction of isn't it, 'it is a nice day, innit?' and I have met Americans who aren't even familiar with this use.
It is now used much more freely and in a different sense, most commonly in London but in other areas and more commonly by ethnic minority groups.
Maybe I am wrong, but in my experience antipodians, UK and Irish use question tags more than N. American. |
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mrsquirrel
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Mainly used by the Asian and white youths in the UK who are trying to be black. |
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Woden
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Location: Eurasia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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| mrsquirrel wrote: |
| Mainly used by the Asian and white youths in the UK who are trying to be black. |
The fact that it was originally an Asian and immigrant usage and become adopted by Black Caribbean youth means what you say is wrong. Some white youths use black British slang, that doesn't mean they are trying to be black. If a black boy uses standard English does that mean he is trying to be white? It just depends on the environment you were brought up in and what kind of language your friends use. This is not to say that SOME people use language associated with other groups to try to be affiliated with them, but it is not the widespread reality.
I am white but use 'innit', I have Asian friends who use it, I have Polish and Jewish friends who use it, I have Chinese and Caribbean friends who use it. To assume we all want to be black is an extremely simplistic way to see the world. It is actually more a marker of youth than blackness, per se, and it happens that youth culture is heavily influenced by black culture. If you live, or have ever lived, in London you will see that 'innit' is far more than a black word, it is actually used far more by other communities, such as Asian and Greeks.
There is a view among white people in London and elsewhere that if you are white you shouldn't use 'innit'. It makes no sense. If people all around you use the word and you refuse to use it purely because it is associated with a certain group of people it is prejuduce. I don't use it at work but when among mates from school it will naturally be used, because it is natural speech, part of my vocabulary and it is part of the vocabulary of all Londoners and UK-ers.
Just remembered an interesting link for you...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6122072.stm
...maybe I am trying to be Indian, innit?! |
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