# positive/negative



## easychen

Hi everybody,

 Here's a conversation:

 person #1: Is the statement incorrect?
 person #2: Yes, it is.

Does person#2 mean "the statment is correct" or "the statement is not correct"?

Thanks in advance!


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## JulianStuart

It means "Yes, the statement is incorrect" - but it refers to some statement that we, as listeners or readers, do not know of.


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## sweety2441

Hi easychen,

JulianStuart is right.

It means "the statement is not correct"


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## easychen

Ok, how about this:

person#1: Is the statement hardly correct?
person#2: Yes, it is.

What does person#2 mean?


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## smoothy004

To put it in simple terms, person #2 means that the statement is a little bit correct but not very correct. (I know that sounds like poor English, but hopefully, it makes it clear.)


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## easychen

smoothy004 said:


> To put it in simple terms, person #2 means that the statement is a little bit correct but not very correct. (I know that sounds like poor English, but hopefully, it makes it clear.)


 I was taught that "hardly" implys negative, and would take person#2 to mean "Yes, the statement is correct." But I'm not quite sure about it.


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## johndot

easychen said:


> Ok, how about this:
> 
> person#1: Is the statement hardly correct?
> person#2: Yes, it is.
> 
> What does person#2 mean?


 To be honest, *easychen*, your question here is a non-starter. People do not ask one another “Is the statement hardly correct?” It doesn’t mean anything, so it can’t be answered.


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## shawnee

#1. johndot is correct.


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## Wagtail

Hi I'm new to the site and this is my very first post. I wonder if easychen has seen the sentence in this form - as a statement rather than a question - "the statement is hardly correct". Although it doesn't make sense as a question, it does as a statement. 

This has a loaded  meaning which implies that the speaker may not know whether the statement is correct, but is showing disbelief or scepticism as to its correctness.

As johndot says, "is the statement hardly correct?" doesn't make sense and would never be used in English


Reading this back I hope I don't sound confusing. Please feel free to correct my posting as I'm new here.


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## smoothy004

Granted that the question, "Is the statement hardly correct?" would not be asked in English, perhaps *easychen* wanted to know the meaning of the word _hardly_ in that  context and/or what it would mean if someone agreed with that statement.

To answer your reply to my reply, *easychen:* _hardly_ implies negative but not completely or totally. _I am hardly ready for the test _is almost the same as _I am not ready for the test_ but also implies that _I am "only a little" ready for the test._ Hope that helps.


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## easychen

johndot said:


> People do not ask one another “Is the statement hardly correct?” It doesn’t mean anything, so it can’t be answered.


 


smoothy004 said:


> To answer your reply to my reply, *easychen:* _hardly_ implies negative but not completely or totally. _I am hardly ready for the test _is almost the same as _I am not ready for the test_ but also implies that _I am "only a little" ready for the test._ Hope that helps.


 Now, here's a revised conversation:

_person#1: That statement is hardly correct._
_person#2: Yes, it is._

Does person#2 mean "yes, that statement is hardly correct." or "yes, that statement is correct"?

On the other hand, if person#2 says "No, it isn't," what does he mean?


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## johndot

easychen said:
			
		

> _person#1: That statement is hardly correct._
> _person#2: Yes, it is._
> 
> Does person#2 mean "yes, that statement is hardly correct." or "yes, that statement is correct"?
> 
> On the other hand, if person#2 says "No, it isn't," what does he mean?


 
Now, the answers are easy! Person #2 is contradicting person #1 and saying “Yes, that statement is correct.”

On the other hand if person #2 says “No it isn’t,” then he/she is agreeing with person #1 by saying “You’re right; it isn’t correct.”


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## easychen

So,  consider the following :

person#1: That statement is incorrect.
person#2: Yes, it is. (=Yes, that statement is incorrect.)

person#1: That statement is not correct.
person#2: Yes, it is. (= Yes, that statement is correct.)

person#1: That statement is hardly correct.
person#2: Yes, it is. (= Yes, that statement is correct.)

Can anyone confirm the above for me?


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## johndot

The first two (above) are correct; the third situation is the maverick.
 
Third situation:
person#1: That statement is hardly correct.
person#2: Yes, it is. (= Yes, that statement is correct.)
 
Person #1 is making a contradictory statement. What is he _really_ trying to say? He’s not saying the statement’s right, nor is he saying the statement’s wrong. In effect, then, he’s taking the middle line and saying “I can’t believe that that statement is correct.” And what makes the situation worse is that person #1 hasn’t put a tag question at the end for person #2 to answer.
 
That is the dilemma for person #2, who must decide “What _really_ is person #1 saying? How shall I answer? How shall I answer in such a way that person #1 knows _which question I’m answering_—the question about his opinion, or the question about the statement?”
 
If person #2 wants to give his opinion as above (Yes, that statement is correct), then he has to reply “No, it is.”
 
And if person #2 wants to say that the statement is wrong, then he should reply “No, it isn’t.”
 
And if person #2 wants to say that the statement is _hardly_ correct, then he should say “Yes, you’re right.”
 
In real life person #1 would have said “That statement is hardly correct, is it?” and then person #2 would have answered “Yes, it is,” (disagreement) or “No, it’s not” (agreement).


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## easychen

I believe you're right on the money, john. Thank you very much for your specific analysis.

EDIT: What do you mean "the third situation is the *maverick*"?


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## Forero

Some questions (and statements) are hardly answerable.

I would not say "That statement is hardly correct, is it?" because that seems as meaningless to me as "Is that statement hardly correct?" And I would not attempt to answer such a question with "Yes, it is" or "No, it's not."

If someone else says "That statement is hardly correct", and I agree, I might say "yes", or "yes, hardly correct, yes", but not "yes, it is." Instead of "no", I would have to make my own assertion about the statement, e.g. "I see nothing wrong with that statement."

Is there but one answer to the question?  If we say there is, then we are saying there isn't.  Unless I agree, I would not say "yes" or "no".


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## easychen

Forero said:


> If someone else says "That statement is hardly correct", and I agree, I might say "yes"
> Hi Forero! I'm astonished to hear this;it's exactly the same way as Chinese people respond. In Chinese, if you agree with what the speaker says, you invariably respond by saying "yes," regardless of whether the speaker's statement is in the positive or in the negative. And I had been taught in school that, in English, When you agree with what the speaker says, and if the speaker's statment is in the negative, you say "no," if it's in the positive, you say "yes." I hope you can help me clear it up.
> Is there but one answer to the question? If we say there is, then we are saying there isn't. Unless I agree, I would not say "yes" or "no".
> To be honest, I cannot follow this. But I believe it must be a very interesting one. Can you be more specific on it?
> Many thanks!


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## Forero

easychen said:
			
		

> Forero said:
> 
> 
> 
> If someone else says "That statement is hardly correct", and I agree, I might say "yes"
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Forero! I'm astonished to hear this;it's exactly the same way as Chinese people respond. In Chinese, if you agree with what the speaker says, you invariably respond by saying "yes," regardless of whether the speaker's statement is in the positive or in the negative. And I had been taught in school that, in English, When you agree with what the speaker says, and if the speaker's statment is in the negative, you say "no," if it's in the positive, you say "yes." I hope you can help me clear it up.
Click to expand...

Actually, when we agree with just about any assertion, we can say "Yes, I know" or "Yes, I agree". To agree with a negative statement, such as "The statement is not correct", I might say something either like "Yes, you're right" or like "No, it isn't (correct)". The word _yes_ or _no_ alone is not really an answer: the answer is what follows. To disagree, I might say "(Oh) yes it is", with _yes_ meaning "indeed". By itself, _yes_ is ambiguous.

"That statement is incorrect" is a positive statement using the adjective _incorrect_, so we can answer "Yes, it is" if we agree or "No, it isn't" if we don't.

The adverb _hardly_ is not really negative, but it restricts something in a similar way. This puts a sentence like "That statement is hardly correct" somewhere between positive and negative, and neither "it is" nor "it isn't" can affirm or deny it. But I can still say "yes" if I agree with it.





> Is there but one answer to the question? If we say there is, then we are saying there isn't. Unless I agree, I would not say "yes" or "no".
> 
> 
> 
> To be honest, I cannot follow this. But I believe it must be a very interesting one. Can you be more specific on it?
> Many thanks!
Click to expand...

"There is but one answer to the question" (= "There isn't but one answer to the question") is a type of sentence that keeps the same meaning when the verb is negated. If we agree, we can answer "yes, there is" to the green version and "no, there isn't" to the purple version; but if we don't agree, we can't contradict with "there is" or "there isn't."

Negative questions are generally difficult to answer with _yes_ or _no_. To me, asking the question "Do you not have any bananas?" is usually equivalent to stating "You don't have any bananas" and then asking for confirmation or denial, but asking "Don't you have any bananas?" is more like saying "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had some bananas."


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## easychen

Hi Forero! Correct me if I'm wrong:

I think "Is there but one answer to the question" is a positive question. So, for this question, one can respond like "Yes, there is," meaning "There is but one answer to the question." But if one wants to contradict "There is but one answer to the question," he can't respond like "No, there isn't," because that means "There isn't but one answer to the question"(="There is but one answer to the question.") One can simply say "No answer at all" or "Actually there are two answers to the question" to contradict " there is but one answer to the question."


Forero said:


> Negative questions are generally difficult to answer with _yes_ or _no_. To me, asking the question "Do you not have any bananas?" is usually equivalent to stating "You don't have any bananas" and then asking for confirmation or denial, but asking "Don't you have any bananas?" is more like saying "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had some bananas."


I remember some natives in this forum presented that if you say "*Is there* *not* a risk that..." you are almost certain that "There is a risk that..." and it's almost a rhetorical question. 
And if you say "*Isn't there* a risk that..." you just express concern about the risk.
I think these two types of questions are similar to the quoted examples. But according to the "rule" of those natives, if you say "Do you not have any bananas?" you are almost certain that "You have some bananas." This is almost opposite to what you said. 
And if you say "Don't you have any bananas?" they understand it as you are just concerned about the bananas(You have? or you don't?).This is also quite different from what you said.
I'm very interested in knowing your opinion.


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## Forero

easychen said:


> Hi Forero! Correct me if I'm wrong:
> 
> I think "Is there but one answer to the question" is a positive question. So, for this question, one can respond like "Yes, there is," meaning "There is but one answer to the question." But if one wants to contradict "There is but one answer to the question," he can't respond like "No, there isn't," because that means "There isn't but one answer to the question"(="There is but one answer to the question.") One can simply say "No answer at all" or "Actually there are two answers to the question" to contradict " there is but one answer to the question."


"No answer at all" does not work for me, but you could contradict with "(Actually) I don't think there is any answer at all". "Actually" is a good substitute for introductory "yes" or "no" when neither "yes" nor "no" fits.





			
				easychen said:
			
		

> Forero said:
> 
> 
> 
> Negative questions are generally difficult to answer with _yes_ or _no_. To me, asking the question "Do you not have any bananas?" is usually equivalent to stating "You don't have any bananas" and then asking for confirmation or denial, but asking "Don't you have any bananas?" is more like saying "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had some bananas."
> 
> 
> 
> I remember some natives in this forum presented that if you say "*Is there* *not* a risk that..." you are almost certain that "There is a risk that..." and it's almost a rhetorical question.
> And if you say "*Isn't there* a risk that..." you just express concern about the risk.
> I think these two types of questions are similar to the quoted examples. But according to the "rule" of those natives, if you say "Do you not have any bananas?" you are almost certain that "You have some bananas." This is almost opposite to what you said.
> And if you say "Don't you have any bananas?" they understand it as you are just concerned about the bananas(You have? or you don't?).This is also quite different from what you said.
> I'm very interested in knowing your opinion.
Click to expand...

What is really meant can of course depend on the tone of voice, but in my experience a simple question is usually asked in the positive ("Do you have bananas?"/"Have you any bananas?"). A negative question is usual when the speaker is biased or has been biased toward a positive answer.

This bias can be of various types. For example, the speaker may be certain there are bananas and want to know where they are, or the speaker may be surprised to find there are none and need confirmation, or the speaker may have recently been assuming there would be bananas and now understand that there are no bananas but still feel a little "rhetorical" confusion.

Where I live,  "Don't you have any bananas?" is the usual form of the negative question, and the most likely one to hear if a person is nearly sure you do have bananas. The form "Do you not have bananas?" is a more formal question where I live, so to me it sounds more sincere, i.e. less "rhetorical". It is also ambiguous, since _not_ may either be part of "do you not" or part of "not have".

What is meant to be rhetorical and what is not is sometimes quite a guessing game, but since I have seen people hurt to varying degrees by others' assuming they were being "rhetorical" when in fact they were not, unless I am sure the person does not expect an answer, I will try to answer any reasonable question they ask that I have an answer to. I would rather appear not to "get it" than to inadvertently snub someone who has asked a sincere question.


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## easychen

Kind of Schrodinger's cat again!


Forero said:


> It is also ambiguous, since _not_ may either be part of "do you not" or part of "not have".


 I don't see any difference between "do you not" and "not have." Is there any really?

one more question:
Does "Isn't there but one answer to the question?" make sense?
And if it does, how would you answer it?


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## Forero

As I see it, "Do you not have bananas?" could be a positive question ("Do you ...?" = "Is it true that you do ...?") or a negative question ("Do you not ...?" = "Isn't it true that you ...?").

Yes, "Isn't there but one answer to the question?" makes sense, I think. I see it as a question biased toward the notion that only one answer exists for the question in question. 

Possible answers:

_Yes, there is._ [agreeing that there is but one answer]
_Actually there are at least two._ [disagreeing]

This is quite an interesting topic. I hope I am making sense and not just tying logic in knots.


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## kalamazoo

Basically in English, we answer "Yes" when the verb of our answer is positive "Doesn't he play the piano? Yes, he does" and "No" when the verb of our answer is negative "Does he play the piano? No he doesn't".  

However, with these sorts of ambiguous and confusing questions like "that's hardly right, is it [meaning that it's wrong]" or "don't you have any bananas" a simple Yes or No answer is a little hard to decipher. I think it's better to think in terms of what verb you would use in your answer to figure out the Yeses and Noes, rather than worrying about the question. We would say, I think, "No, I don't have any bananas." but "That's right, I don't have any bananas" or "Yes, that's right [positive verb], I don't have any bananas" but less likely to just say "Yes, I don't have any bananas" [although that's not impossible. to say.]

A simple "Yes" or "No" works okay for a question like "Did Jane come home yet?" but less well for something a little more complicated.


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## easychen

Forero said:


> Possible answers:
> 
> _Yes, there is._ [agreeing that there is but one answer]
> _Actually there are at least two._ [disagreeing]


 Ah, didn't you forget this one:

No, there isn't. [agreeing that there isn't but one answer]

Since "there is but one answer"="there isn't but one answer," both "Yes, there is" and "No, there isn't" should be workable.


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## easychen

kalamazoo said:


> I think it's better to think in terms of what verb you would use in your answer to figure out the Yeses and Noes, rather than worrying about the question. We would say, I think, "No, I don't have any bananas." but "That's right, I don't have any bananas" or "Yes, that's right [positive verb], I don't have any bananas" but less likely to just say "Yes, I don't have any bananas" [although that's not impossible. to say.]


 Hi Kala!
I think "Don't you have any bananas" is a negative question, not an assertion, how can you answer with "That's right, ..." or "Yes, that's right..."? Do you take the question as an assertion like "You have some bananas."?


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## Forero

"No, there isn't" can agree with "There isn't but one answer", but I don't think it works as an answer to "Isn't there but one answer?".  A negative question is a question with a bias toward the positive, so an answer in the negative just does not seem like agreement, even in this strange case in which positive and negative statements would have the same meaning.


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## kalamazoo

Hi easy.  Yes, I guess I do take a question like "don't you have any bananas" as often being pretty similar to an assertion that you don't have any bananas or a statement expressing puzzlement about my lack of bananas.  WHereas "do you have any bananas" is a question about whether you have any bananas or not.


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## easychen

Forero said:


> A negative question is a question with a bias toward the positive,


 


kalamazoo said:


> Yes, I guess I do take a question like "don't you have any bananas" as often being pretty similar to an assertion that you don't have any bananas


 
I thought Kala would tell me he would take the question "Don't you have any bananas?" as an assertion like "You* do have* some bananas." But Kala said that he took it as an assertion like "You *don't have* any bananas."
I've been driven crazy!


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## Forero

Sorry, easychen. Apparently we natives don't all agree on the direction of the "bias". 

Still, a negative question is not really anything we can agree or disagree with. In answering it, we might attempt to agree or disagree with an implicit assertion based on the total context, but the only way to be perfectly clear what we mean is to come out and say it.

It is easiest if the negative question simply negates the verb, e.g. "Don't you have any bananas?", since then we can get by with a simple "(Yes/No/Right/Wrong/Actually) we do" or "(Yes/No/Right/Wrong/Actually) we don't" (though in the grocery store situation, we might want to add something like "I'll bring some out for you" or "we expect some in on Tuesday").

But if the question is negative because of something other than a negated verb, e.g. "Do you have no bananas at all today?", I think we have to be explicit: "(Yes/No/Right/Wrong/Actually) we are out of bananas, but we expect to get more on Tuesday" or "(Yes/No/Right/Wrong/Actually) we just received a new shipment of bananas today - I'll put some out for you", for example.

Does that help your sanity?


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## easychen

Forero said:


> but the only way to be perfectly clear what we mean is to come out and say it.
> I can't agree with you more!
> 
> Does that help your sanity?
> I feel very well now!Thank you so much!
> 
> And believe it or not, I think this is the best thread of all time about positive/negative questions!


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## Wagtail

Hello easychen. I've been following this thread, and it is confusing! 

It seems to me that "Is there not..?" has a distinct meaning which maybe only applies to the verb "to be". 

The speaker implies that "there is...". Whereas with other verbs - "do you not have...?" or "do you not see...? implies that the speaker does not know whether to expect a positive or negative answer. "Don't you have...?" and "Don't you see...?" are not very different. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "Is there not..?" is a special case.

To cause further confusion, if the question refers to "I" instead of "you" the meaning is closer to "is there not..?", e.g. "Do I not have..?" or "don't I have...? would often imply that I think I have. As someone else said (sorry I can't remember who), tone of voice also changes meaning.

Can I also say that I don't like the sound of "Is there but one answer?". It doesn't sound usable to me. I would agree with the usage of "There is but one answer". However, is it just me, but does this sound like poetic usage? The more common usage would surely be "There is only one answer" or "There is just one answer".


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## JulianStuart

I think that forero's examples show that most people answering a possibly confusing or ambiguous question would clarify the answer beyond the Yes or No.

"Will your answer to this question not be Yes?"


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## easychen

Wagtail said:


> It seems to me that "Is there not..?" has a distinct meaning which maybe only applies to the verb "to be".
> Hi Wag! I'm not sure about this, but anyway, this is really interesting. It is new to me.
> The speaker implies that "there is...". Whereas with other verbs - "do you not have...?" or "do you not see...? implies that the speaker does not know whether to expect a positive or negative answer. "Don't you have...?" and "Don't you see...?" are not very different.
> I think the implications might be not very different, but the forms of answers (positive/negative) can be very different.
> "Is there not..?" is a special case.
> I don't have the foggest idea what makes it so special. Can anyone else explain this?
> if the question refers to "I" instead of "you" the meaning is closer to "is there not..?", e.g. "Do I not have..?" or "don't I have...? would often imply that I think I have.
> This is also new to me.Thank you Wag.
> Can I also say that I don't like the sound of "Is there but one answer?". It doesn't sound usable to me.
> So you think the question is as unusable as "Is that statement hardly correct"?


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## easychen

JulianStuart said:


> "Will your answer to this question not be Yes?"


Hi Julian, I think the answer to this question will be Yes and No.


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## Forero

Wagtail said:


> Hello easychen. I've been following this thread, and it is confusing!
> 
> It seems to me that "Is there not..?" has a distinct meaning which maybe only applies to the verb "to be".
> 
> The speaker implies that "there is...". Whereas with other verbs - "do you not have...?" or "do you not see...? implies that the speaker does not know whether to expect a positive or negative answer. "Don't you have...?" and "Don't you see...?" are not very different.
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "Is there not..?" is a special case.
> 
> To cause further confusion, if the question refers to "I" instead of "you" the meaning is closer to "is there not..?", e.g. "Do I not have..?" or "don't I have...? would often imply that I think I have. As someone else said (sorry I can't remember who), tone of voice also changes meaning.
> 
> Can I also say that I don't like the sound of "Is there but one answer?". It doesn't sound usable to me. I would agree with the usage of "There is but one answer". However, is it just me, but does this sound like poetic usage? The more common usage would surely be "There is only one answer" or "There is just one answer".


I agree that "Is there not ...?" and "Don't I have ...?" are more likely to suggest the speaker believes the positive than "Don't you have ...?". But to me even "Don't you have ...?" is more likely to suggest the speaker believes you do have than that the speaker believes you don't have. "Don't they have ...?" seems different, more likely to be said with an intonation pattern that indicates the speaker believes they don't have but hopes it isn't so.

Obviously we do a lot of guessing with the written word, and negative questions always leave room for doubt, to say the least.

Yes, I brought up "Isn't there but one ...?" as another example of a confusing question. Such things do turn up in real life but I don't suggest using them on purpose, except as we use them here in the forums for illustration and entertainment purposes.


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## easychen

Hi Forero!

Yeah, the more you discuss, the better picture I get.

Thank you so much!


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## Wagtail

Forero said:


> As I see it, "Do you not have bananas?" could be a positive question ("Do you ...?" = "Is it true that you do ...?") or a negative question ("Do you not ...?" = "Isn't it true that you ...?").
> 
> Yes, "Isn't there but one answer to the question?" makes sense, I think. I see it as a question biased toward the notion that only one answer exists for the question in question.
> 
> Possible answers:
> 
> _Yes, there is._ [agreeing that there is but one answer]
> _Actually there are at least two._ [disagreeing]
> 
> This is quite an interesting topic. I hope I am making sense and not just tying logic in knots.


 
Sorry to confuse matters - I appear to have misread that we were talking about "isn't there but one answer?" and not "is there but one answer?". The former of course, as Forero has said, makes perfect sense as a question. Apologies, I must read more carefully!

However I would disagree, to an extent, with you Forero, regarding "don't you have?" meaning "I think you have". 

I think it depends very much on context. For example, if I saw a ragged, barefoot child, I might ask, with some concern, "don't you have any shoes?" - fearing that indeed the child does not have any shoes. On the other hand, if I saw a well-dressed child running on my carpet with muddy bare feet, I might ask with (some irritation) the same question, and actually mean "get off my carpet and get your shoes on!" 

Such questions can be asked with puzzlement, concern, or hostility. Concern would, I think, suggest that we expect a negative. Hostility would expect a positive, and puzzlement would expect either. Agree?

Tone of voice is all-important, but I think we all would agree that it's best to say more clearly what we mean!

Getting back to "is there not..? I'm probably wrong to call it a special case. I think it's more to do with the fact that we are asking a (more-or-less) rhetorical question about the existence of something, rather than a more specific and subjective question involving "I, you, he, she etc".

I've realised that it's not just the verb "to be". A similar question would be "Don't they have?, with "they" meaning the world in general rather than a specified "they".


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## Wagtail

Hi again, I've just read back through this discussion and found that there was in fact a reference to "is there but one answer?" It gets confusing following the thread!

(As I agreed with above - "isn't there but one answer?" is perfectly usable. I would paraphrase it as "Don't you agree with me that there is only one answer?".)

But to answer your question, easychen, yes I would hold that "is there but one answer?" is unusable, (along with "is the statement hardly correct?" ). 

However, I think it's the use of the word "but" that causes the problem. Oddly enough if we used "only" or "just" instead of "but", the question would make sense. This seems confusing, as "but" should be interchangeable with "only" or "just". 

I don't think it is always interchangeable though. I'm tying myself up in  knots trying to work this out, can anyone help? 

I think what it may be, is the dramatic or declaiming nature of "but" in this context.

We can say, dramatically:

"Isn't there but one answer?" and "There is but one answer!"

But "is there but one answer?" just doesn't seem to fit.

"is there just one answer?" sounds ok.
"is there only one answer?" also sounds ok.

I would say that "but" is used for dramatic positive emphasis, and can't be used as a tentative question.


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## Forero

Yes, "Don't you have ...?" depends on context. Tone of voice probably makes it unambiguous, but as a written question we have to imagine a tone of voice based on context, or the lack of it.

The issue with _but_ is that it can mean either "except" or "just":

_It was given to no one but Mary._ [_but_ = "except"]
_The explanation should be simple, but not too simple._ [_but_ = "just"]
_We cannot but admire his courage._ [_but_ = "except"]
_There isn't but one answer._ [_but_ = "except"]
_There is but one answer._ [_but_ = "just"]

Each of these last two statements makes sense, but they do seem incongruous together. Either one makes for a confusing question:

_ - "There isn't but one answer, is there?"
 - "Yes, there is."
_ There is but one answer?

_ - "There is but one answer, isn't there?"
 - "No, there isn't."
_ There isn't but one answer?

It just does not always work to stop at "there is" or "there isn't", even when no question is actually formulated:

_ - "I didn't know there was but one answer."
 - "Well there is."
_ There is but one answer?

English is full of subtleties such as "been to" = "gone to and returned from", as in "I have been to Paris only once." If my friend emails me and asks "Have you ever been to Paris?", and if unbeknownst to my friend I am in Paris for the first time right now, I feel that neither "Yes, I have" nor "No, I haven't" can answer the question.

The use of _hardly_ is another such subtlety.

And statements with _but_ are not the only statements that keep the same meaning when changing the verb from positive to negative or vice versa, so I will just say that we need to be careful any time we use ellipsis or "yes" or "no".

The "loaded question" has been mentioned (e.g. "Do you deny that you are still beating your wife?"). The issue of needing to go beyond "yes, I do" or "no, I don't" for a proper answer is similar, but there is more to it than positive vs. negative.

A question like "Is the statement incorrect?" gives us no trouble, provided we know what statement is "the" statement and provided that the "statement" does assert something. Since it either is incorrect or is not incorrect, we do not have to repeat "incorrect" when we answer "Yes, it is" or "No, it isn't."

Interesting topic. Thank you, Easychen.


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## Packard

Wagtail said:


> Hi I'm new to the site and this is my very first post. I wonder if easychen has seen the sentence in this form - as a statement rather than a question - "the statement is hardly correct". Although it doesn't make sense as a question, it does as a statement.
> 
> This has a loaded meaning which implies that the speaker may not know whether the statement is correct, but is showing disbelief or scepticism as to its correctness.
> 
> As johndot says, "is the statement hardly correct?" doesn't make sense and would never be used in English
> 
> 
> Reading this back I hope I don't sound confusing. Please feel free to correct my posting as I'm new here.


 
"Hardly" frequently means "no".

_*Are you happy with your new job?*_

*Hardly.*


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## johndot

Packard said:


> "Hardly" frequently means "no".
> 
> _*Are you happy with your new job?*_
> 
> *Hardly.*


 True enough—but perhaps this should be tackled as a separate issue; in this example _hardly_ is not part of a (sometimes rhetorical) question but a short answer to a straightforward enquiry.


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## Esca

Let me try to clear up some of the confusion from earlier. Two people perceived "don't you have" differently, because the important part is what comes AFTER the "Don't you have..."
"Some" suggests a positive, and "any" suggests a negative.

"Don't you have _some_ bananas?" = "I think you *do* have _some_ bananas; am I right?"
"Don't you have _any_ bananas?" = "You *don't* have _any_ bananas? I can't believe it!"


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## easychen

Wagtail said:


> We can say, dramatically:
> 
> "Isn't there but one answer?" and "There is but one answer!"
> 
> But "is there but one answer?" just doesn't seem to fit.
> 
> "is there just one answer?" sounds ok.
> "is there only one answer?" also sounds ok.
> 
> I would say that "but" is used for dramatic positive emphasis, and can't be used as a tentative question.


 Yeah Wag, I think there is something in what you said.


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## easychen

Forero said:


> The "loaded question" has been mentioned (e.g. "Do you deny that you are still beating your wife?"). The issue of needing to go beyond "yes, I do" or "no, I don't" for a proper answer is similar, but there is more to it than positive vs. negative.


 Ah, Forero, I think it is a trap, and I'm aware of it. So I would answer like this:

_No, I'm not beating my wife at all. I never have, and never will._

I wonder if I do it right.


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## easychen

Esca said:


> "Don't you have _any_ bananas?" = "You *don't* have _any_ bananas? I can't believe it!"


 Hi Esca,
Here's my understanding of "Don't you have any bananas?":

I don't know if you have bananas, but I can't believe it if you really don't have any.

And I'm not quite sure my understanding is exactly the same as yours.


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## Forero

easychen said:


> Ah, Forero, I think it is a trap, and I'm aware of it. So I would answer like this:
> 
> _No, I'm not beating my wife at all. I never have, and never will._
> 
> I wonder if I do it right.


Well done! Ignore the _deny_ part and attack the falsehood at its root.


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## easychen

Thank you very much, Forero, for helping me beat the attorney!


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