Why is John washing the car but isn’t David?

[Maybo]

A: Why is John washing the car but isn’t David?
B: David is sleeping.


I wrote the above. Is the question correct?

 

[Tarheel]

No. I'm not sure what you mean to say. Perhaps: "Why is John washing the car? Isn't David supposed to be doing that?"

 

[Tarheel]

Of course, "David is sleeping" would tell you what he is doing, but it wouldn't really answer the question.

 

[Maybo]

Of course, "David is sleeping" would tell you what he is doing, but it wouldn't really answer the question.

How about “Why is the answer A but not B”?
Is that correct?

 

[Tarheel]

How about “Why is the answer A but not B”?
Is that correct?

It could be. What's it in response to?

 

[Maybo]

It could be. What's it in response to?

A student asked his teacher about the exam answers.

 

[Tarheel]

Try: "Why is the answer A and not B?"

 

[Tarheel]

Do teachers get a lot of "why" questions there?

 

[White Hat]

'Why is it John washing the car and not David?' would work here too, wouldn't it?

 

[Tarheel]

@White Hat Yes, that's good

The person thinks David's supposed to be washing the car. (Don't ask me why. )

 

[emsr2d2]

"Why is John washing the car but not David?" could be interpreted to mean "Why is John washing the car but he's not washing David?"

"Why is John, not David, washing the car?" leaves no room for ambiguity.

 

[jutfrank]

Maybo, would you like to tell us what you mean?

 

[Maybo]

Maybo, would you like to tell us what you mean?

Why is John washing the car but not David is washing car?

I don’t know how to write the underlined part.

 

[emsr2d2]

Why is John washing the car but not David is washing car?

I don’t know how to write the underlined part.

Re-read posts 9 and 11.

 

[Rover_KE]

A: Why is John washing the car but isn’t David?

Reverse the last two words.

 

[Tarheel]

Abe: Why is John washing the car? David's supposed to be doing that.
Bob: I guess he didn't want to. Anyhow, he got John to do it for him.

(Thanks to @emsr2d2 )

 

[emsr2d2]

@Tarheel Don't you mean "Anyway, he got John to do it for him"?

 

[White Hat]

Reverse the last two words.

Is 'Why is John washing the car but David isn’t?' really grammatically correct? Am I missing something here?

 

[Maybo]

Reverse the last two words.

Why is John washing the car and David isn’t?

Are “but” and “and” both acceptable in the above sentence?

 

[jutfrank]

Are you going to tell us what you mean? What's the situation you're imagining? Until you make it clear, I can only assume you mean this:

Why is it David washing the car and not John?