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Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English?



 
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Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English? #1 (permalink) Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:51 am   Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English?
 

Hello.
I'm searching an English teacher now and I found a man who had lived in the USA for 12 years. I've started an email conversation with him and I noticed that he use constructions as the following:

"In advance, please tell me how you see the English classes. Your ideal in learning English. What methods you like? What topics you prefer?"

Were the last two questions written correctly in colloquial American English?

Thanks in advance.
Artsus4
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Joined: 22 May 2010
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Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English? #2 (permalink) Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:12 am   Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English?
 

I wouldn't consider them questions, which is why I wouldn't have used question marks. Like the preceding fragment, they seem to be extensions of the original request.

A more formal version would be this:

In advance, please tell me how you see the English classes -- your ideal in learning English, what methods you like and what topics you prefer.

For that reason, I would write the informal version with fragments ending in periods.

I have heard informal questions phrased similarly, but I have rarely read them.
Mordant
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Joined: 12 May 2010
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Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English? #3 (permalink) Fri Jul 16, 2010 0:17 am   Is it OK to skip "do" in colloquial American English?
 

Thanks, Mordant.

Now it's clear to me. Those question marks are really confusing.
Artsus4
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 22 May 2010
Posts: 18
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

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