imperative clause + question tag

Point 28 in QUESTIONS is defined as:

affirmative or negative tag after an imperative clause to soften the imperative.

*Some examples don’t seem to soften but instead add a touch of sarcasm.

iWeb doesn’t allow searching for such a complex string.

We can start with getting , _vm _p ?

1 , SHALL WE? 8052

  Lifehacker Australia
How to Spot Burnout and What to Do About It
Let’s get into it, shall we? First of all, what does ‘burnout’ entail?

*By far the most common imperative is ‘let’s’


2 , WOULD YOU ? 3553

Collocates to the left _vv0:

2 GET 16
3 WANT 12
4 MEAN 9
5 EAT 9

*Clearly this grammar is informal and is hard to find in GoogleNews at all, so here are a couple of examples in iWeb:

  • Timmy, get that door , would you ? – Well, you lost your shoe, sweetheart.
  • We met at the open house last week. Get some guts , would you ? I got some cheese. Give me a break.

 

__________________

3 , CAN YOU ? 2074
4 , WILL YOU ? 1852
5 , WOULD IT ? 1258
6 , CAN IT ? 1206
7 , CAN WE ? 702
8 , CAN THEY ? 607
9 , CAN I ? 575
10 , WILL YA ? 544
11 , WOULD THEY ? 534
12 , COULD IT ? 474
13 , WOULD WE ? 384
14 , WILL IT ? 380
15 , COULD YOU ? 329
16 , SHOULD IT ? 268
17 , CAN HE ? 264
18 , WOULD HE ? 234
19 , COULD THEY ? 224
20 , WILL THEY ? 192


*no examples in PELIC

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *