TAG QUESTIONS

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1. I think that today is beautiful, DON'T YOU?
2. I think that today is beautiful, ISN'T IT?

One gentleman who runs his own grammar forum told me that both are correct. That there is a subtle difference in their meanings.

Another gentleman who runs his own grammar forum told me that only No. 1 is correct English.

I should appreciate your opinions.

Thank you,

James

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 1,172 • Replies: 14

[+3] - Berty McJock - 02/07/2013i'd have said 2 is wrong. to me they should read: 1. i think today is beautiful, dont you? 2. today is beautiful, isn't it? to look at it another way: 1. don't you think it's beautiful...

@TheParser,

Both questions are proper English. Both questions can also be seen as rhetorical and not require a response though I think the first one is more likelier to get a verbal response from the person the asker is talking to because of the use of you directly targets the question to the listener.

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@TheParser,

i'd have said 2 is wrong.
to me they should read:

1. i think today is beautiful, dont you?
2. today is beautiful, isn't it?

to look at it another way:

1. don't you think it's beautiful today?
2. isn't it beautiful today?

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Thank you both very much.

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@TheParser,

Quote:

1. I think that today is beautiful, DON'T YOU?
2. I think that today is beautiful, ISN'T IT?

One gentleman who runs his own grammar forum told me that both are correct. That there is a subtle difference in their meanings.

Another gentleman who runs his own grammar forum told me that only No. 1 is correct English.

I should appreciate your opinions.

I think that people who run grammar forums should have a better grasp of language and grammar.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Interesting comment.

I should like to know your opinion about the two sentences.

James

1 Reply

@TheParser,

1. I think that today is beautiful, DON'T YOU?
2. I think that today is beautiful, ISN'T IT?

They aren't, for lack of a better word, "real" tag questions.

1. I think that today is beautiful - DON'T YOU?
2. I think that today is beautiful, ISN'T IT?

"correct" is a much too loaded term.

Why not give links to the originals, James?

1 Reply

@JTT,

Thank you, JTT, for your reply.

I found tsarstepan's comment about their being rhetorical questions very insightful, and I now have found your statement that they do not really qualify as "tag questions" equally as insightful. I think that both of you are on to something.

I am an old man who is totally computer illiterate. So I could not link if I wanted to. But -- being a very discreet and diplomatic soul -- I would not link anyway, for I do not want to embarrass those gentlemen.

Thanks again to the three people who answered this thread. You taught me a lot.

James

1 Reply

@TheParser,

Tag questions aren't really rhetorical, though, given the millions [billions???] of possibilities that exist in life that's certainly a possibility.

Quote:

That there is a subtle difference in their meanings.

There is, most assuredly, if the context warrants that.

Quote:

I am an old man who is totally computer illiterate. So I could not link if I wanted to. But -- being a very discreet and diplomatic soul -- I would not link anyway, for I do not want to embarrass those gentlemen.

Those who have grammar sites and make pronouncements about language issues, or any issues for that matter, should be subject to scrutiny. The reason that nonsensical prescriptions lasted as long as they did was that the prescriptivists were not held to account.

FYI

To post a link:

1) Click on the URL. It will turn blue.

2) Press and hold your Ctrl button and hit the letter c (c = copy). This will copy that URL and hold it in memory.

3) In a posting, click your cursor in the posting window, then hold down Ctrl and hit the letter v (v = paste). The URL will appear.

I followed this process to copy the URL for this page, below.

http://able2know.org/reply/post-5248297

1 Reply

@JTT,

Thanks a lot, JTT. (I love prescriptivists! My favorite, of course, is The Master, Henry Fowler.)

1 Reply

@TheParser,

Quote:

(I love prescriptivists! My favorite, of course, is The Master, Henry Fowler.)

I thought that you were serious about discovering the facts about language, James.

Fowler is all but useless in that regard. And he stands heads and shoulders above most of the rest of the prescriptivists.

Quote:

Linguistic manners are like any others. People have always found it worthwhile to reflect on how best to behave, for the sake of at least individual enlightenment and improvement. Since the eighteenth century, most of our great moralists have at one time or another turned their attention to the language, from Addison, Swift, and Johnson to Arnold, James, Shaw, Mencken, and Orwell. In their essays and in the great grammars and dictionaries, we find the most direct secular continuation of the homiletic tradition, reflecting the conviction that the mastery of polite prose is a moral accomplishment, to which we will be moved by appeals to our highest instincts.

Take Modern English Usage, by that good man H. W. Fowler, "a Christian in all but actual faith," as the Dictionary of National Biography called him. Despite a revision in 1965, it is out-of-date, yet it still has a coterie as devoted as the fans of Jane Austen or Max Beerbohm, who prize its diffident irony, its prose cadences, and, above all, the respect it shows for its readers' intelligence and principles.

http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/correct/decline/

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1. I think that today is beautiful, DON'T YOU?
(Here the "don't you" refers to the "I think" - don't you also think that way?

2. I think that today is beautiful, ISN'T IT? (Here the "isn't it" refers to "today is beautiful" - is not today a beautiful day?

0 Replies

Thank you, Punkey, for your very helpful reply.

*****

Thank you again, JTT, for your always insightful comments.

I, too, have read the criticisms of Mr. Fowler. In fact, the late Professor Quirk criticized him as not actually being a grammarian.

Nevertheless, I think that he is the greatest -- especially his "The King's English."

In that book, he tells us that the use of "shall" and "will" is so difficult that "those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it."

James

1 Reply

@TheParser,

Quote:

In that book, he tells us that the use of "shall" and "will" is so difficult that "those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it."

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