strange use of does in occupations!

[makaveli]

Hi all,

I wonder if one or more of you could clarify this one for me.

In normal Q and A we repeat the verb used in the question:

Do you have any brothers? Yes, I do.

However when we ask 'What do you do?' OR 'What does your father do?' we ommit the verb do/does and replace it with is/am/are!

Could you please explain the grammar rule of this for me in a context that I can explain to a 10 year old student!! I've checked Practical English Usage and as per normal, everything is there bar the point I want addressed!!!

They keep wanting to say (quite rightly so when thinking of nearly everything else their taught) " what does your father do?" "he does a salesman"!!! Rather than he's or he is!!!!!!!!

It appears quite a unique change of verb for every day use in this way!!!!

Many thanks



Mak

[Tdol]

I think they just have to look at the meaning of this particular question, and thinkof it as a special question:
What do you do = What is your job/occupation

What language does he speak?

[rewboss]

Consider this question:

What are you writing?

In this sentence, "what" is an interrogative pronoun. It is a place-holder for a noun, but we don't know what that noun is. In the answer, we replace the place-holder with the appropriate noun: I am writing a letter/novel/poem.

There is, however, no interrogative pronoun we can use to replace a verb. Instead, we use the interrogative pronoun "what" to indicate that it's not a yes/no question, and use the dummy verb "do" as a place-holder for the verb we are asking about:

What are you doing?
I am reading/writing/working...

In the question "What do you do?" we can replace the verb "do" in exactly the same way: I translate/drive a train/work in a call-centre/write computer games/am a librarian...

"Do" isn't always a dummy verb, of course, but is often used as such.

[Tdol]

In addition to Rewboss's analysis, one reason for asking the question is that it covers more than 'what's your job?', which would exclude students, homemakers, the unemployed and others. It is a question that allows for many possible answers.

[makaveli]

Thank you both for the replies.

Mak