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Takehisa Tanaka Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Could you help me understand this?
Could you help me understand this?
This excerpt is from my grammar book:
P84 2.53 Note
"Where it is frequently impossible for a positive statement to contain nonassertive forms (I have any ideas), it is by no means unusual for assertive forms to occur in questions and negative clauses:Do(n't) you have some ideas? Out use of the term 'nonassertive territory' does not exclude, and indeed anticipates, a more delicate stage of analysis at which we acknowledge that assertive forms can give an assertive 'bias' to constructions which are predominantly nonassertive."
I can not understand well this part of that sentence:
"We acknowledge that assertive forms can give an assertive 'bias' to constructions which are predominantly nonassertive."
Could you explain that sentence for me, please?
This excerpt is from my grammar book:
P84 2.53 Note
"Where it is frequently impossible for a positive statement to contain nonassertive forms (I have any ideas), it is by no means unusual for assertive forms to occur in questions and negative clauses:Do(n't) you have some ideas? Out use of the term 'nonassertive territory' does not exclude, and indeed anticipates, a more delicate stage of analysis at which we acknowledge that assertive forms can give an assertive 'bias' to constructions which are predominantly nonassertive."
I can not understand well this part of that sentence:
"We acknowledge that assertive forms can give an assertive 'bias' to constructions which are predominantly nonassertive."
Could you explain that sentence for me, please?
Top answer
The nonassertive constructions are the questions and negative statements. ". e.
- The nonassertive constructions are the questions and negative statements.
- ".
- e.
- gives the nuance a nudge towards assertiveness).
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2 Answers
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The nonassertive constructions are the questions and negative statements. The author is saying that assertive forms, such as "some", can sometimes be used in these, as in the example "Do you have some ideas?". When this is done, it provides an "assertive bias" (i.e. gives the nuance a nudge towards assertiveness).
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