6.4. ACKNOWLEDGING SOCIAL STATUS THROUGH SPEECH 317
In Japanese the same applies:”Won’t (you) come over (for a social visit) again some time?”
Here is not used to mean ”play” but ”to spend time leisurely”,
hence the implied clause ”for a social visit”.
A more polite way to ask negative questions is to use the form
with the negative counterpart of :
”Won’t (you) have some tea?”
These negative questions can also be formed with plain negative
form, but they become more informal that way:
”Won’t you have some (lit: eat) cake?”
Giving answers to negative questions can trip up beginning stu-
dents quite easily, as the following example illustrates:
A:
B:
A: ”Won’t you go (with me)?”
B: ”Yes (I won’t go with you).”
The problem lies with the fact that an affirmative answer to a nega-
tive question affirms the negative. Usually it is easier to answer with what
you will be doing, rather than using yes or no:
A:
B:
A: ”Won’t you go (with me)?”
B: ”I will.”
An even beĴer solution is to express your answer in the form of a
motivation plus answer, when a negative question is asked, thus making
it virtually impossible for your answer to be misinterpreted:
A:
B:
A: ”Won’t you go (with me)?”
B: ”(I’m) free (anyway), (so) sure, I’ll go (with you).”