A question about "be careful"

[nq:1]In the sentence above, what do Smith want?[/nq]
He wants Doris to take care not to allow the water to become/remain hot.
[nq:1]Is "the water is not hot"? Or is "the water is hot"?[/nq]
The former.

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[nq:1]There is a sentence: "Doris, be careful that the water is not hot," Smith said. In the sentence above, what do Smith want? Is "the water is not hot"? Or is "the water is hot"? Thanks a lot in advance.[/nq]
Not just the syntax, but the old-fashioned name Doris, and the curious use of Smith's surname but Doris' first name (I bet she's the maid, natch) indicate we're in no more recent times

[nq:2]There is a sentence: "Doris, be careful that the water ... is "the water is hot"? Thanks a lot in advance.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not just the syntax, but the old-fashioned name Doris, and the curious use of Smith's surname but Doris' first name[/nq]
Smith is talking to Doris. He's probably going to use her first name because he knows her. The narrator, who is telling you who said what was quote

[nq:2]Not just the syntax, but the old-fashioned name Doris, and the curious use of Smith's surname but Doris' first name[/nq]
[nq:1]Smith is talking to Doris. He's probably going to use her first name because he knows her. The narrator, who is telling you who said what was quoted, might use last names to refer to characters, perhaps to remain more distant, disinterested.[/nq]
Fair enough,

[nq:1]Fair enough, it's reported speech. How old was the last piece of fiction you read where the narrator identified characters by their second names? But the antique and faintly comical Doris is a clincher that this is quite an old peice of writing.[/nq]
I don't see anything "old" about this writing. I read works of fiction that are modern and still identify characters by both first and last

[nq:2]Fair enough, it's reported speech. How old was the last ... clincher that this is quite an old peice of writing.[/nq]
[nq:1]I don't see anything "old" about this writing. I read works of fiction that are modern and still identify characters by both first and last names, depending on the circumstances and the author's preferred style.[/nq]
So do you know a lot of Doris's?
[nq:2]Ea

[nq:1]So do you know a lot of Doris's?[/nq]
'Dorises', I'd write.
I have an Aunt Doris out California way. She's in her early 80s. I think 'Doris' may have survived about a generation longer than in the UK or wherever you were referring to; indeed, I think 'Doris' was at one time a fashionable AmE name.
Cf. Doris Day, who's about 80. She's from Cincinnati, but she might as well be a ma

Areff > misc.education.language.english,alt.usage.english in <
[nq:1]I have an Aunt Doris out California way. She's in her early 80s. I think 'Doris' may have survived about a generation longer than in the UK or wherever you were referring to; indeed, I think 'Doris' was at one time a fashionable AmE name.[/nq]
Onelook.com says it's still common in the US.
Doris
[nq:1]A female g

[nq:2]So do you know a lot of Doris's?[/nq]
[nq:1]'Dorises', I'd write. I have an Aunt Doris out California way. She's in her early 80s. I think 'Doris' may ... 80. She's from Cincinnati, but she might as well be a matron goddess of Chicago wrt her heyday persona. Bwahahaha![/nq]
Yes, I think you're probably right and I'm being parochial. However, I still have a gut feeling the very small

[nq:1]So do you know a lot of Doris's?[/nq]
I only know a handful of people, none of whom are named Doris. Why?

A quick search of the Web reveals many people named Doris, many of whom don't even have grandparents who were around in the 1920s.

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