"The use of can to express permission is better tolerated in negative questions, as in Can't I have the car tonight? probably because the alternative contraction mayn't is felt to be awkward." :mrgreen:
Mayn't brzmi tak samo dziwnie jak " I am stupid aren't I?" Normalny użytkownik naturalnie wstawi "ain't" pomimo krytyki tego słowa, a ten bardziej sophisticated zatąpi Aren't I zwrotem: Isn't that so?
:(mam pytanie jak w "Question Tagach" będzie poprawnie??? :
A ja mam takie zadanie do rozwiazania:
Write the question tag:
1. Tommorow is ....?
2. You don't......?
3. She can't.....?
4. J am......?
5. We haven't got.....?
Pomoze ktos? Prosze nie pytac co tam jeszcze ma byc - to jest cala tresc polecenia.
Pozdrawiam i z gory dziekuje za pomoc (thank you from the mountain ;o).
Average language user is essentiallly informal. But you always disagree with me.:) Guess you're right to some extent. There's no one good answer to language quirks like that. There are many regional things as well, esp. in the US
Usage. The social unacceptability of ain't, the historical contraction of am not, has created a gap in the pattern of verbal contractions. I'm not, the alternative to I ain't, has no corresponding interrogative form except ain't I. In questions, ain't I is often avoided by the use of AREN'T I: I'm right, aren't I? Aren't I on the list? This AREN'T is simply a different outcome of the same historical development that yielded ain't, but the fact that it is spelled and pronounced like the contraction of are not (as in You are staying, aren't you?) apparently gives it, for some, an acceptability that ain't lacks. The use of AREN'T I is objected to by others because a declarative counterpart, I AREN'T, does not exist. Many speakers, however, prefer AREN'T I to the uncontracted, rather formal am I not.
Ain't:
Usage. As a substitute for am not, is not, and are not in declarative sentences, AIN'T is more common in uneducated speech than in educated, but it occurs with some frequency in the informal speech of the educated, especially in the southern and south-central states. This is especially true of the interrogative use of ain't I? as a substitute for the formal and--to some--stilted am I not? or for aren't I?, considered by some to be ungrammatical, or for the awkward--and rare in American speech--amn't I? Some speakers avoid any of the preceding forms by substituting Isn't that so (true, the case)? AIN'T occurs in humorous or set phrases: Ain't it the truth! She ain't what she used to be. It ain't funny. The word is also used for emphasis: That just ain't so! It does not appear in formal writing except for deliberate effect in such phrases or to represent speech. As a substitute for have not or has not and--occasionally in Southern speech--do not, does not, and did not, it is nonstandard except in similar humorous uses: You ain't heard nothin' yet!.
P.S. I'm defending my thesis in a few hours, keep your fingers crossed.
Average language user is essentiallly informal. But you always disagree with me.:)
I could get really petty here and tel you that yes, actually, I do disagree on that one. That's not the point you're trying to argue here, though, now is it?
Ain't is not a standard form and I can't see myself teaching it for another good few years. It will probably enter the ESL curricula right after I'm loving it. You reckon?
Well, you're absolutely right abut two things:
1. Ain't is not standard, but it seems to be a frequent replacement of am I not even among the educated.That was the point.
2. Mayn't sounds lousy
P.S. 'Am I not' in the contracted form is used by Anthony Hopkins in "Proof" 2005.
I completed my exams!! Among other questions, I had to give examples of 'Deep South word usage'.....it was fun coz I lived there....
Regional words....:
Goober, snake feeder, gullywasher,poor boy, red worm..etc
Re-arranged compounds: hopper-grass, pecker-wood,
Words with extra meaning: sack=(utter) , big=pregnant, rude=homely, ugly
anymore=nowadays...and some more
Nie możesz pisać nowych tematów Nie możesz odpowiadać w tematach Nie możesz zmieniać swoich postów Nie możesz usuwać swoich postów Możesz głosować w ankietach Nie możesz załączać plików na tym forum Możesz ściągać załączniki na tym forum
![[Szukaj w słowniku]](http://www.ling.pl/szukaj-new.gif)