Do you know whether...? Yes or No

Question

Situation:Abe asked his class mate Bill this question about Carol who is also their class mate: Do you know whether Carol likes me or not?Bill, the respondent who is about to answer this question, knows that Carol does not care for Abe, and is willing to tell the truth for his best friend's benefit.  Thus Bill should answer:1. Yes (I kwow whether Carol likes you or not).2. No (she does not like you).3. Yes (I know ) and no (she does not like you).,,, which answer would be considered the correct way? Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
Abe clearly wants to know the state of Carol's affections, so Bill should answer with #2. #3 would be OK.

Clive

Huevos · Answer

jazzmasterDo you know whether Carol likes me or not?

This question does not warrant a yes/no answer, and no native would give one unless they were being funny.
A: Would you like Coca Cola or Pepsi? B: Yes please!

Jazzmaster · Answer

CliveHi,
Abe clearly wants to know the state of Carol's affections, so Bill should answer with #2. #3 would be OK.
Clive

Thanks Clive:
That is indeed what I thought. Right on.
Your note "Yes and no would be OK", I surely hear this a lot. In which case, I believe the respondent is responsbile for specifying which point he/she is saying "Yes" and "No" to in order to clarify what he/she means.

J

Clive · Answer

Hi,
I believe the respondent is responsbile for specifying which point he/she is saying "Yes" and "No" to in order to clarify what he/she means.
Usually, the responder answers the "real question" that I am asking. eg 'Yes, she does', or just 'Yes' meaning the same thing.
If he didn't answer my "real question", it would cause some confusion and I would be a bit irritated or think the person was just joking rather feebly with me.

Clive

Jazzmaster · Answer

Huevos
jazzmasterDo you know whether Carol likes me or not?
This question does not warrant a yes/no answer, and no native would give one unless they were being funny.
A: Would you like Coca Cola or Pepsi? B: Yes please!

Thanks.
I do not think you got my question right as Clive did:

If your mother asks you:

Huevos, do you know whether your brother has a girl friend or not?

... if you answer "Yes", does that mean "Yes, I know" or "Yes, he has one now."? Or if you say "No", does that mean "No, you don't know?" or "No, he does not have any now."? These are my questions.

Should you answer "Her name is Carol", it is just short for "(yes, he has a girl friend and) her name is Carol".

J

Jazzmaster · Answer

CliveHi,
I believe the respondent is responsbile for specifying which point he/she is saying "Yes" and "No" to in order to clarify what he/she means.
Usually, the responder answers the "real question" that I am asking. eg 'Yes, she does', or just 'Yes' meaning the same thing.
If he didn't answer my "real question", it would cause some confusion and I would be a bit irritated or think the person was just joking rather feebly with me.

Clive

Thanks again:

I hear you good. It is important for Bill to answer what Abe really wants to ask. Abe is not interested in whether Bill has an answer to Abe's question but in whether Carol likes Abe. And that is the "real question", which must be answered. I just wanted to say, in order to avoid unnecessary confusion on Abe's part, it would be nice for Bill to answer "Yes, she does like you" or "No, she does not like you".

Thanks.

Anonymous · Answer

Actually, the correct answer would be number 3.

Jazzmaster · Answer

Thanks!

Do you know whether...? >>> Yes or No

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