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Perfect Stranger Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
the eternal question strikes back
Howdy, All textbooks say that if we want to ask about sb's profession, what they do for a living we should say:
What do you do?
What do you do for a living?
What's your job? (however, this one is often considered bad English for some reason)
And yet... more and more people say:
What are you doing now?
I think that present continuous is only justified if from the context we can guess that somebody has a temporary job or is looking for a job. Correct me if I'm wrong.
A: Hey, what's up, long time no see! How's life?
B: Yeah, well, I quit my job a month ago.
A: Did you? Well, so what are you doing now?
B:
What do you do?
What do you do for a living?
What's your job? (however, this one is often considered bad English for some reason)
And yet... more and more people say:
What are you doing now?
I think that present continuous is only justified if from the context we can guess that somebody has a temporary job or is looking for a job. Correct me if I'm wrong.
A: Hey, what's up, long time no see! How's life?
B: Yeah, well, I quit my job a month ago.
A: Did you? Well, so what are you doing now?
B:
Top answer
Perfect Stranger What's your job? (however, this one is often considered bad English for some reason) Sounds fine to me. I think that present continuous is only justified if from the context we can guess that somebody has a temporary job or is looking for a job.
- Perfect Stranger What's your job?
- (however, this one is often considered bad English for some reason) Sounds fine to me.
- I think that present continuous is only justified if from the context we can guess that somebody has a temporary job or is looking for a job.
- That's one justification, but another one is that we use the continuous in conversation to express heightened interest in the topic, and that is probably why some speakers use it.
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3 Answers
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Perfect StrangerWhat's your job? (however, this one is often considered bad English for some reason)Sounds fine to me.
Perfect StrangerWhat are you doing now?I think that present continuous is only justified if from the context we can guess that somebody has a temporary job or is looking for a job.That's one justification,
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Mister MicawberThat's one justification, but another one is that we use the continuous in conversation to express heightened interest in the topic, and that is probably why some speakers use it.Hmm... Then how would you understand this question MM?
What do you do now?
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