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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?



 
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ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Fri May 16, 2008 7:55 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Hello,

there is another question I have:

Is the following correct English ? :

"Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it ?"

Should you not say :

"There is a coffee machine in this room, isn't it ?"

Thanks,

Susan
Susan2
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Joined: 06 May 2008
Posts: 8

Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Fri May 16, 2008 7:57 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Quote:
"Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it ?"

It's not standard English, but it might be heard in certain parts of youthful Britain.

Quote:
Should you not say :

"There is a coffee machine in this room, isn't it ?"

Again, not standard.

Try:"There is a coffee machine in this room, isn't there?
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017

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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Fri May 16, 2008 13:45 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Molly wrote:
it might be heard in certain parts of youthful Britain.
Was that an effort to stave off any comment from 'Grandpa Alan', Molly? And are you sure you weren't thinking of "innit"? Laughing Wink

Hi Susan
You should not use either one of your sentences in the US. They don't sound at all idiomatic or even like slang to me.

Use these standard versions instead:
"Is there a coffee machine in this room?"
"There is a coffee machine in this room, isn't there?"
.
Yankee
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Fri May 16, 2008 14:35 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Quote:
Was that an effort to stave off any comment from 'Grandpa Alan', Molly? And are you sure you weren't thinking of "innit"?


"Innit" is the weak form. Cool
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017

Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sat May 17, 2008 5:05 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Can you be more precise? Which parts of youthful Britain use isn't it and/or innit this way?
.
Yankee
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sat May 17, 2008 10:23 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

The less prescriptive parts. Laughing Really and originally, for innit, in the chav/townie/pikey parts, even though now, it's spreading beyond those borders. In such parts "isn't it" can be heard as either a kind of hypercorrection or as a dig a the prescriptivist.
Molly
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 1:43 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

1. ??Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?

I wouldn't expect to hear "isn't it" (or "innit") after a question with that form, in "youthful" or any other kind of BrE.

The tag could follow a question in the form of a statement, e.g.

2. This is the room with the coffee machine, isn't it?

Or a plain statement, for emphasis, e.g.

3. "The milk's gone off again." "Well, it's the heat, isn't it."

________________________

Molly wrote:
Really and originally, for innit, in the chav/townie/pikey parts, even though now, it's spreading beyond those borders. In such parts "isn't it" can be heard as either a kind of hypercorrection or as a dig a the prescriptivist.


When you say "chav/townie/pikey parts", which areas do you have in mind?

MrP
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 4:42 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Molly wrote:
Really and originally, for innit, in the chav/townie/pikey parts, even though now, it's spreading beyond those borders.
How do you know that?

Molly wrote:
In such parts "isn't it" can be heard as either a kind of hypercorrection
Presumably, "chav/townie/pikey" are words used to describe certain types of youthful Brits. Do "chav/townie/pikey" people use this hypercorrection often? How many times per mill?

Molly wrote:
or as a dig a the prescriptivist.
How many (per mill.) make this hypercorrection for this reason? How did you come by this knowledge? Native speaker intuition?
.
Yankee
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 13:54 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Quote:
I wouldn't expect to hear "isn't it" (or "innit") after a question with that form, in "youthful" or any other kind of BrE.

You can't be everywhere all the time, now can you?

Quote:
The tag could follow a question in the form of a statement, e.g.

I think, from recent posts, most of us know that, Mr P.

Quote:
When you say "chav/townie/pikey parts", which areas do you have in mind?

Do Pikey's have an area?
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017

Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 13:57 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Quote:
How do you know that?

From living in Britain and having young people as patients.

Quote:
Do "chav/townie/pikey" people use this hypercorrection often? How many times per mill?

You'd have to check out the chav/townie/pikey corpora, if they exist.
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017

Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 16:40 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Molly wrote:
Quote:
When you say "chav/townie/pikey parts", which areas do you have in mind?

Do Pikey's have an area?

That was the point of my question. You seem to think they do.

Molly wrote:
Quote:
How do you know that?

From living in Britain and having young people as patients.


Actually, it seems to have been taken from the third (and slightly inaccurate) entry for "innit" on the Urban Dictionary website:

Urban Dictionary wrote:
Derives from the chav/townie/pikey sub-culture,


Cf.

Molly wrote:
Really and originally, for innit, in the chav/townie/pikey parts

MrP
MrPedantic
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 20:16 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Do Pikey's have an area?

That was the point of my question. You seem to think they do.

Quote:
Is "parts of youthful Britain" the same as "areas of youthful Britain" in your mind?

Pikey youth are a part of the group of people that one could call youthful Britain. OK?

Quote:
Actually, it seems to have been taken from the third (and slightly inaccurate) entry for "innit" on the Urban Dictionary website:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Again with your garden-path approach to stating your viewpoint. If you haven't heard the tag used as above, is it a case of your limited, indirect experience with British youth-culture, or is it that you want to state that the tag used as above does not exist in British English? Make up your mind, but do it with cojones, please.
Molly
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Posts: 4017

Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Sun May 18, 2008 23:19 pm  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Molly wrote:
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?


The item on the webpage is dated Dec. 2004; so it would seem to have priority.

Molly wrote:
Again with your garden-path approach to stating your viewpoint. If you haven't heard the tag used as above, is it a case of your limited, indirect experience with British youth-culture, or is it that you want to state that the tag used as above does not exist in British English? Make up your mind, but do it with cojones, please.

As I said before, I would not expect to hear this structure:

1. Is there an X, isn't it?

But I would expect to hear "isn't it"/"innit" after a statement, or a question in the form of a statement.

Have a pleasant evening, old chap.

MrP
MrPedantic
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Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it? Mon May 19, 2008 8:06 am  Sentence: Is there a coffee machine in this room, isn't it?
 

Quote:
As I said before, I would not expect to hear this structure:

1. Is there an X, isn't it?

I'm sure there are many things about English usage that you would find quite surprising .

Quote:
Have a pleasant evening, old chap.

Could you answer one thing for me? When a person has, many times, asked you not to call him/her a certain name, why would you want to continue doing so?
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017

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