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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Don't

0 Hi,02br
02br
01b00What languages do you not speak?02br
00What languages don't you speak?02br
02br
00What languages can you not speak?02br
00What languages can't you speak?02br
02br
00What languages are not spoken here?02br
00What languages aren't spoken here?02br
02br
00What languages is Mary not learning?02br
00What languages isn't Mary learning?02b02br
02br
00How do I ask a "negative" question, asking what something or somebody doesn't do or is not? I feel my versions are ok (that's the way to ask), but contractions are not used (so only the first in each pair should sound natural).02br
00Thank you 050010id1
  

Top answer

12br 12blockquote 10None of your questions sound very natural because the scope of answers is too broad. Contractions are fine though for negative questions and are probably used more frecuently:02br 02br 00Isn't the meeting at 2 o'clock. (yes/no)02br 00Doesn't he work as a firefighter.

— Bokeh

  • 12br 12blockquote 10None of your questions sound very natural because the scope of answers is too broad.
  • Contractions are fine though for negative questions and are probably used more frecuently:02br 02br 00Isn't the meeting at 2 o'clock.
  • (yes/no)02br 00Doesn't he work as a firefighter.
  • (yes/no)02br 00Why didn't the train stop in ...
  • (because...
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7 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Kooyeen12cite10I feel my versions are ok (that's the way to ask), but contractions are not used (so only the first in each pair should sound natural).12br
12blockquote
10None of your questions sound very natural because the scope of answers is too broad. Contractions are fine though for negative questi
0
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0 Thanks Bokeh,02br
00of course yours are ok, but they are different. I am asking what someone doesn't do, not what they do. I'm asking what something is not, not what it is...0-
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0
0 Contractions are fine in negative sentences. 0-
0
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0Thanks Nona 05002br
00So all of my examples should be ok.010id1
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0Yes, they're all grammatically possible. However, as Bokeh pointed out, I doubt you'd hear any of them in natural conversations. 02br
02br
00Your suggestion that if people were to use that kind of construction, they'd tend to use the full version rather than the contraction was not correct - and that's what both Bokeh and Nona were saying. If we did say something like this
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0
0 Hi Rose,02br
00yes, they could seem strange... they are strange, actually, but if you want to know what I was thinking of...02br
02br
00- I am learning Japanese.02br
01b00- Good. That must be an interesting language... I like Spanish. I'm learning it.02b02br
00- I'm learning Spanish too.02br
01b00- Really
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0
0he he! I like the sound of that show-off polyglot!02br
02br
00In this context, I think you could get away with saying "what languages 01i00aren't02i00 you learning"- but I think I'd tend to say "Dammit, are there any languages you 01i00aren't02i00 learning?"0-
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