Present indefinite tense

[sevenstar]

Hi,
In present indefinite tense we say,

He knocks at the door. and in negative sentence we say
He does not knock at the door.
also
Why he waits his time. and
Why does he waist his time?

But in the sentence,

Who waists his time
but in this sentence why we not say?
Who does waist his time?
Why does in not used with "who" in interrogative sentences?

Secondly,

Why we say cat, why not kat and similarly other such words.

Thank you

 

[TheParser]

Hi,
In present indefinite tense we say,

He knocks at the door. and in negative sentence we say
He does not knock at the door.
also
Why he waits his time. and
Why does he waist his time?

But in the sentence,

Who waists his time
but in this sentence why we not say?
Who does waist his time?
Why does in not used with "who" in interrogative sentences?

Secondly,

Why we say cat, why not kat and similarly other such words.

Thank you

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Sevenstar,


(1) May I try to answer your second question? Then probably

someone will answer your first question.

(2) Here are some ideas:

(a) For many, many years people in England spelled words in many

different ways.

(b) Then someone invented the printing press. So gradually "everyone"

agreed to spell words one way.

(c) They decided to spell that animal's name as "cat." But sometimes

people spell it as "kat" when they want to make a joke.

(4) You know the word "night," don't you? Well, many years ago,

a newspaper tried to get everyone in the United States to spell it as

"nite." Today, we still usually spell it as "night," but sometimes it is

OK to spell it as "nite." If you write "kat," people will laugh; if you

write "nite," people will NOT laugh.

(5) Do you know the word "gaol"? Well, we Americans feel that it is

better to spell it as "jail." But both words are pronounced the same.

(6) If you google "English spelling," I am sure that you will find many

interesting articles.

(7) One more example: The train goes through a tunnel. Here in the

United States, we say a drive-thru restaurant (where you drive

your car to a window and order food without ever having to leave

your car!!!). It would look "funny" if you wrote "drive-through."

(8) Do not feel bad. Even native speakers have to use a dictionary

for many words.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[azcl]

***Not a teacher***

In your examples, you should be using 'waste' rather than 'waist'

Why does in not used with "who" in interrogative sentences?

The use of 'does' is consistent in the interrogative as with the present indefinite.

"He wastes his time"
"Who wastes his time?"

"He does not believe in our values"
"Who does not believe in our values?"

Who wastes his time
but in this sentence why do we not say?
Who does waste his time?

Language is living and evolves. In early modern English, you may have a construction more like the one you have suggested:

"Who doth molest my contemplation?" (from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus Act 5, Scene 2). Here 'doth' is the archaic 3rd person singular of 'do' (modern equivalent is 'does'). These days, we would say something like: "Who disturbs (or is disturbing) my thoughts".

Having said that, you may use 'does' if you want to bring an emphasis or a contradiction to something that has already been said.
"I think he does know what he is doing" (though this is obviously not a question).

Additionally, there are occasions that you may use 'does' in a question similar to the one you mention above. Consider:

"We need to get someone in, who knows what he is doing"
"Who does know what he is doing?" (rather than "Who knows what he is doing?") The implication here is that there is actually nobody who knows what he is doing!

With these exceptions noted, in most cases, as with your example ("Who wastes his time/who does waste his time"), we use the "Who wastes his time" construction.

Ade