Just a quick question please - Detail in a question.

[richuk]

Hey everyone, just a quick question if anyone could help me please (sorry to use the same boring old examples as in my previous posts :roll?

----- Version 1:
Two students left a Physics lesson.

One said to the other: "What do you think of the Physics lesson?"
The other replied: "It wasn't as fun as the Biology lessons but we learnt a lot more."
-----

----- Version 2:
Two students left a Physics lesson.

One said to the other: "What do you think?"
The other replied: "It wasn't as fun as the Biology lessons but we learnt a lot more."
-----

The two versions mean exactly the same don't they? Although the "What do you think?" in the second version does not explicitly say "What do you think of the Physics lesson?" it can only mean the same thing can't it (assuming version 2 is not comparing some other unknown lesson with the Biology lesson)?

Cheers guys, sorry if it is really obvious ;-)

 

[suzie07]

IM NOT A TEACHER

Hey everyone, just a quick question if anyone could help me please (sorry to use the same boring old examples as in my previous posts :roll?

----- Version 1:
Two students left a Physics lesson.

One said to the other: "What do you think of the Physics lesson?"
The other replied: "It wasn't as fun as the Biology lessons but we learnt a lot more."
-----

----- Version 2:
Two students left a Physics lesson.

One said to the other: "What do you think?"
The other replied: "It wasn't as fun as the Biology lessons but we learnt a lot more."
-----

The two versions mean exactly the same don't they? Although the "What do you think?" in the second version does not explicitly say "What do you think of the Physics lesson?" it can only mean the same thing can't it (assuming version 2 is not comparing some other unknown lesson with the Biology lesson)?

Cheers guys, sorry if it is really obvious ;-)

IM NOT A TEACHER!

Ahhh, Ive just done an essay on something like this for stylistics. The second one is breaking the Gricean maxim of quantity forcing the hearer to determine the implicature in what the speaker is saying (which is what he thought of the physics lesson). They are both the same only if the hearer understands the implicature. If the hearer didn't understand then they would simply reply 'about what?'

I hope this helps, but I'm not a teacher!

 

[richuk]

Hey that's interesting, thank you.

 

[kfredson]

IM NOT A TEACHER




IM NOT A TEACHER!

Ahhh, Ive just done an essay on something like this for stylistics. The second one is breaking the Gricean maxim of quantity forcing the hearer to determine the implicature in what the speaker is saying (which is what he thought of the physics lesson). They are both the same only if the hearer understands the implicature. If the hearer didn't understand then they would simply reply 'about what?'

I hope this helps, but I'm not a teacher!

The implicature? That is a brand new word to this old brain. I wonder how different it is from "implication." I would imagine that we would say "implication of" rather than "implicature in," but perhaps the meaning isn't precisely the same.

In any case, thank you for the new word. I will inflict it on my students tomorrow!

 

[suzie07]

The implicature? That is a brand new word to this old brain. I wonder how different it is from "implication." I would imagine that we would say "implication of" rather than "implicature in," but perhaps the meaning isn't precisely the same.

In any case, thank you for the new word. I will inflict it on my students tomorrow!

It was Grice who coined the term. All part of the wonderful world of pragmatics and the meaning behind the actual words we say