Affirmative word order in questions
I often hear affirmative word order in questions in english films. But I don't see a particular sequence when it can be done. So, I would be very grateful if you would explain it to me.
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Answers · 3
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Movies are fiction. :)
Still, you would hear "affirmative word order" to mean a question in two common cases.
1) A very colloquial style. Even people who do this are very aware of the standard grammar.
2) For confirmation, just like a negative question. The implication is, "this is what I think; please confirm".
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Do you mean questions that are phrased like statements? For example, "You're coming here?" instead of "Are you coming here?".
You can really consider it to be both a statement and a question. It's used to indicate both surprise and uncertainty, and most of the time the question is rhetorical.
If you see someone you know going to the airport with a suitcase, you might say "You're going away?". This is rhetorical as you can clearly see that the person is going away, but at the same time you want confirmation and/or an explanation.
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I'm assuming you mean something like, "You want to go to the movies this weekend?"
In English, the important identification for questions is tone: one that rises at the end of the sentence. Sometimes we're just being lazy and dropping the word "Do" like I did in my first example:
"Do you want to go to the movies?"
"You want to go to the movies?"
However, we also use affirmative word order when we're surprised by information. For example, I don't like going to clubs, so when I agreed to go out a few weeks ago, my girlfriend said, "You want to go to a club?" because she was surprised.
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