Are ‘Why so serious/excited/etc?’ and ‘Why the question?’ proper/correct English?

Question

Or are ‘Why so serious/excited/etc?’ and ‘Why the question?’ colloquial/incorrect? If so, why? If not, why?

What about ‘Why be anonymous?’

Be as thorough as you want to. The more informative the answers are, the better.

Thank you in advance.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

What do you mean? It's basically a question asking why: (event) as in why (do something/something).

Anonymous · Answer

Second try ... I mean the questions are usually written 'Why are you so serious/excited/etc'?, 'Why did you ask the question?' and 'Why would/should(=depending on context) you be anonymous?', which are undoubtedly proper/correct English. Shortened as 'Why so serious/excited/etc?', 'Why the question?' and 'Why be anonymous?', are they still correct English, or are they colloquial/improper?

In English, I know it’s perfectly correct/proper/formal to, for lack of a better word, ‘‘shorten’’ phrases and sentences in a certain way in some cases as in ‘Be that true, ...’ (= ‘If that is true, ...’), ‘if need be’ (= ‘if it is necessary’), ‘come what may’ (‘regardless of what may come/happen’) etc., so I’m wondering if similar rules apply to ‘Why be anonymous?’, ‘Why so excited?’ and ‘Why the question?’

I'm also wondering if similar rules apply to 'Haven't you anything better to do?' and 'Have you any idea [...]?' , which I also hear a lot from seemingly formal English-speakers.

Regards · Answer

Hi,
No special structure at all. 'Why be anonymous?', for instance, asks a general question and suggests
people identifying themselves because of several advantages they might have if they don't remain
anonymous. In this forum, the questions of anonymous posters should go through the moderation
process, and therefore they don't appear immediately after posting them. Thus, the forum suggests
its users signing up to "English Forums" in order to avoid this rather irritating waiting.
As you can see, 'Why be anonymous?' addresses all the users of "English Forums"—hence this general
structure you are struggling with. The same happens with 'Why be so serious?' or 'Why ask complex
questions?', and other questions of this ilk. They all ask general questions which have to do with anybody,
that is, they don't ask for a specific answer from someone. Therefore, those questions seem to be attractive
for those who wish to turn them to their advantage. When you encounter such a question, it attracts
you because of the mystery it conceals. I'd say that it's like the headline news.
As for your other questions—'Have you any idea?' and 'Haven't you anything better to do?'—they have
nothing in common with this structure. 'Have you any idea?' is somewhat of an old-fashioned way of saying
'Do you have any idea?', while this structure is more likely to be used in British English rather than in American
English. 'Haven't you anything better to do?' is the old-fashioned way of saying 'Don't you have anything better
to do'? as explained before. If you want to know further details about these structures, I highly recommend
you start a new thread consisting of these questions.

Regards

Anonymous · Answer

I know what the form ‘Why be anonymous?’ means now, but my initial question is still unanswered. Though short, are the forms ‘Why the question?’, ‘Why so serious?’ and ‘Why be anonymous?’ acceptable as correct/proper, non-colloquial English?

In other forums, I’ve received answers saying all forms are correct/proper/formal and answers saying all forms are wrong and answers saying one or two forms are correct etc. I just want to settle this once and for all.

Regards · Answer

Hi,

I gave you a detailed answer, and I'm afraid you haven't read it properly.

Yes, 'Why be anonymous' is good English. Be is used here as a bare infinitive after why.

The same happens with 'Why be so serious'. The bare infinitive functions as the main verb.

However, you should use these sorts of questions with verbs.

Regards

Anonymous · Answer

I read your replies clearly. I asked if ‘Why so serious?’ and ‘Why the question?’, which were never addressed, are correct, not if ‘Why be so serious?’ and ‘Why ask complex questions?’ are correct.

Out of the three that I asked—‘Why so serious?’, ‘Why the question?’ and ‘Why be anonymous?’—only ‘Why be anonymous?’ was answered/confirmed as correct, leaving the others unanswered altogether. I didn’t ask for the others to be modified—only if they’re correct the way I posted them.

‘Why be so serious?' ? 'Why so serious?’

‘Why ask complex questions?’ ? ‘Why the question?’

Regards · Answer

Hi,

I'll give you some quick answers since you don't seem to read my posts carefully.

Why be anonymous? - Correct.

Why be so serious / whatever? - Correct.

Why ask complex questions? - Correct.

Why the question? - Incorrect and unclear.

Why so serious? - Incorrect and unclear.

That's all.

Regards

Anonymous · Answer

Every question/sentence needs a predicate (verb) in it. Why so serious and Why the question are colloquial phrases. They are not correct in proper English since they are missing the verb. People just say it cause it's faster to say (same as using "cause" instead of the full because). People "redact" the verb part because it's implied, but this makes it incorrect.

The questions Have you not anything to do (Haven't you anything to do) and Have you any idea are perfectly correct English because they have a subject (maybe implied) and a predicate (verb). These two questions are just examples of an inverted sentence structure where the predicate part is in front of the subject part.

Are ‘Why so serious/excited/etc?’ and ‘Why the question?’ proper/correct English?

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