Лекция: The usage of the Take-Off

· We use the Take-Off in a statement if it is a grumble:

|| I didn’t hurt you || (so why make all that fuss?)

|| You can’t possibly do that? || (you ought to know better)

|| I did || (grumbling contradiction)

· We use the Take-Off in wh-questions if they are repetition-questions, when we are repeating someone else’s question or when we want the other person to repeat some information:

|| When did I go? || (Or where?)

|| Why? || (Because I wanted to)

(I arrived at ten o’clock) || When? ||

(It took me two hours) || How long? ||

(John told me to do it) || Who told you to do it? ||

Notice that in questions where the other person is being asked to repeat information, the rise begins on the wh-word.

· We use the Take-Off in tag-questions after commands:

|| Come over here | will you? ||

|| Let’s have some music | shall we? ||

|| Hold this for me | would you? ||

· We use the Take-Off in tag-questions if neither the statement nor the tag-question have the word not in them:

|| You liked it | did you? ||

|| They’d like some more | would they? ||

· We use the Take-Off in tag-questions when we don’t want the other person to agree with us, but to give his opinion:

|| You’re coming to tea with us | aren’t you? ||

|| You weren’t here on Wednesday | were you? ||

|| He didn’t look ill | did he? ||

· We use the Take-Off in exclamation if it is questioning:

|| Oh? ||

|| Really? ||

|| Well? ||