|
|
Weird word order
What say you? vs What do you say?
How dare you!? vs How do you dare!? You don't say! vs Don't you say! I would like to know the origin of these expressions and the reason why the normal word order is not used...
<<I would like to know the origin of these expressions
and the reason why the normal word order is not used... >> Actually, according to historical usage, these expressions ARE (/were) the normal word order in English, and had been for over a thousand years. Only recently in English history has it changed to the latter, with use of 'do' as an auxilliary modal. Therefore, these expressions are set/frozen in time and are left-overs from an earlier time. Very few expressions are created like this today, although a few have been: "I think not" instead of "I don't think so", etc.
I wrote "I think not" on another thread. It doesn't quite have the same feeling as "I don't think so." The latter is softer. It also depends on the intonation when the phrase is said. It's stronger than "I don't think so"...
She loves me yeah yeah yeah
She loves me not. It sound like modern colloquial Brazilian Portuguese with postverbal negation: Ela me ama SIM. Ela me ama NÃO.
In your second example, dare is being used as a modal verb in "How dare you!", and as a normal verb in "How do you dare!". It's one of the few verbs that can be used in either function. The modal case sounds much more natural, by the way.
In your third example, "You don't say!" is the normal word order. "Don't you say!" sounds like it should be a question, it doesn't sound right as an exclamation. Have you actually seen/heard this? In your first example, "What say you?" is the archaic word order, but you will still hear people say this nowadays. It gives the question a quirky, funny or perky tone. It's certainly not standard though, and if you use this word order as an English second-language speaker, people will just think you are making a mistake.
"I don't think so" literally means "this is not something that I think". "I think not" means "this is something that I think is false". There is a difference between not thinking that something is true and thinking that it is true.
<<"I think not">>
Ahhh so this should really be written "I think: Not" good observation
These are just expressions which were invented a long time ago, but we still use them today. English used to always switch the verb/subject order to make questions.
|