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Hi,Suppose XYZ is the name of a sw product.Which of the following titles look ok to you?(1) "What does XYZ do?"(2) "What is XYZ intended for?"(3) "What does XYZ serve for?"(4) "What does XYZ allow you to do?"(5) "XYZ allows what?"(6) "What XYZ allows?"I am 101% sure that (6) is broken English ... (5) too looks weird to me, but I'd like a native speaker to sign their "death warrant" :-)mus-te

YvWordsmith · Accepted Answer

1, 2, and 4 are good.
This is not a death warrant....

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Thanks for your reply, yvWordsmith!

yvWordsmithThis is not a death warrant....

I would like a native speaker to sign their "death warrant". (*)

Looks like (*) is far from being "natural" English :-)
The figurative "to sign their death warrant" is out of place here?
I wonder if you could modify (*) so it becomes both idiomatic and natural English?

Thanks in advance!
mus-te

YvWordsmith · Answer

I'm not sure what you want to say.
Is it a joke, exaggerating the risk of answering the question? If so, you could say, 'who wants to risk their life', or 'who wants to put their life on the line', but a death warrant sounds like a sure thing, not just a risk.
Can you explain what you mean to say?

Anonymous · Answer

4. sounds best, in my opinion. 2. is too formal-sounding. 1. seems to leave the user out, in my view. It's almost as though you're saying XYZ does everything, and better than you can, so you're not even needed.

3. is ungrammatical. 5. is rude-sounding. 6. is not a question, but even without a question mark it doesn't sound good - does XYZ have so much power that it can limit what you can and can't do?

Note that 4. also uses the word "allow," but here "allow" is used in the sense of "enable," and has no authoritative connotations. This is a familiar pattern that is used when describing products, "What does ___ allow you to do?" This construction is very polite-sounding and doesn't have negative connotations.

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Dear Anonymous,
Your comments are EXCLUSIVELY interesting and useful!
Your style (=commenting on (1) through (6) one by one, leaving no stone unturned :-) is especially "effective" and "English -learner-friendly". I really appreciate your help!

Best Regards,
mus-te

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Hello yvWordsmith!

yvWordsmithIs it a joke, exaggerating the risk of answering the question?

Yes, I had hoped it would sound like a joke to you, but alas it didn't ...

I just wanted to convey the following idea: "This specific expression must be broken English, but i'd better check that with a native speaker... let native speakers have the last word on whether this specific phrase is OK or not, etc... if a native speaker says the phrase is bad English this would be (figuratively) like "signing this piece of corrupt English its death warrant".

Curiously, this figure of speech ("signing smth bad/evil its death warrant") does not sound rude/infernal/brutal/etc. at all in my native language. However, if translated verbatim, it appears absolutely "alient" to English (according to your comments)?

Again, thank you for your help with this.

YvWordsmith · Answer

Oh, OK, now I see what you mean; I thought you were asking responders to sign their own death warrant!

We don't have that expression. I'm trying to think of an expression like that, but I can't. Maybe someone else will. If I think of one, I'll let you know.

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