Teacher Discussion Forums

I don't think a NS would actually say this -- certainly I've never heard anything like it.

a classic double entendre!

We would never say this in American English, but we would say: Would you like to have lunch/dinner/breakfast? (NEVER: would you like to EAT...) I think this is a collocation issue.

I like to use slightly obscure poems, e.g. Robert Blake or e.e. cummings, as the visual/aural images are available to non-native speakers in the same way they are to native speakers. Discerning "the meaning" is the same experience for all (allowing for cultural differences). What-the-heck does "Anyo...

British and American spoken English differ in many regards. For example, and pertaining to your question about syllable stress, Brits would say "adVERtizment" and yanks would say "adverTIZEment". One of the more confounding and confusing differences is the intonation pattern of yes/no questions. Yan...

"my collection of critical letters and postcards WERE growing" ACK! Was this error really in a published book? Should we just give up? I like fluffyhamster's metaphor explanation "fridge space". If I'm running out of room INSIDE my refrigerator, I'll say that I'm running out of fridge space. However...

Not pronouncing the "w" in words such as "wood"

Check out "The Michigan Guide for Academic Success and Better TOEFL Test Scores" (University of Michigan Press, 2004). It covers the integrated skills required for the next-generation TOEFL and comes with a useful CD. I really like the clear and logical organization of this book.

Your example is an imperative whose form happens to be that of an interrogative. An imperative is a structure whose main purpose is to issue a directive. I refer you to "A Student's Introduction to English Grammar" by Huddleston and Pullman (Cambridge 2005).