How to ask a question in English

[Neon Knight]

CORRECT: Should Chimpanzees be given human rights?

INCORRECT: Chimpanzees should be given human rights?


I've seen a lot of thread titles in TA written the incorrect way. The only time you would use the second form would be when challenging a statement and repeating the statement in the form of a question for emphasis, e.g:

PETER: "Chimpanzees are so genetically like humans they should be given human rights."

SIMON: "Chimpanzees should be given human rights? That's ridiculous!"

[Universe]

Are native speakers guilty of this as well?

[Neon Knight]

Are native speakers guilty of this as well?

I haven't noticed it yet, but Americanisms in English very often come to Britain.

[Universe]

I haven't noticed it yet, but Americanisms in English very often come to Britain.

What do you mean? Asking a question this way:

Chimpanzees should be given human rights?

is an americanism?
Btw the most common mistake that even a lot of native speakers commit is using

it's

instead of

its

For example
They say

The United States and it's allies

instead of

The United States and its allies

I'm aware my own English is not perfect.

[Neon Knight]

I can't be certain it's American but these petty corruptions of English nearly always come from America.

Yeah, many British speakers of English are not masters of it.

[kkk77]

What do you mean? Asking a question this way: is an americanism?
Btw the most common mistake that even a lot of native speakers commit is using instead of
For example
They say instead of
I'm aware my own English is not perfect.

Is that even a mistake? It may be on purpose. In Portuguese we don't write all diacritics as a form of abbreviation. I guess English speakers may also abbreviate things like "don't" to "dont".

[Universe]

Is that even a mistake? It may be on purpose. In Portuguese we don't write all diacritics as a form of abbreviation. I guess English speakers may also abbreviate things like "don't" to "dont".

Writing it's instead of its is not a abbreviation, but the opposite.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Slightly off-topic, but I've noticed a lot of posters incorrectly spelling 'lose' as 'loose'... even though they have totally different pronunciations and meanings.

There's a Dutch poster called TheLawspeaker who is highly proficient in English. I was instantly impressed as soon as I saw his posts.

He has a wide range of vocabulary, accurate spellings, excellent grammar, etc. I find it extremely impressive how fluent the Dutch are with English as a second language, followed very closely by the Swedish and Norwegians.

I was listening to several audio recordings that he very kindly made for me of his spoken English yesterday evening.

He speaks immaculate English, and he sounds highly educated and very classy when he speaks English in his refined accent. He speaks with an RP accent and he sounds similar to an upper-middle class English gentleman. I told him he should be a narrator or a broadcaster for documentaries as his spoken English is superb. He also possesses great fluency and intonation ability in his spoken English skills.

I find it very admirable and impressive, as English isn't his native language.

[Marinus]

Is that even a mistake? It may be on purpose. In Portuguese we don't write all diacritics as a form of abbreviation. I guess English speakers may also abbreviate things like "don't" to "dont".

It's mostly people just being lazy, but it's and its have different uses.

It's is a contraction of it is, other contractions are: I'm, you're, he's etc...

Its is the possessive of the neuter 3rd person, eg. We couldn't find the bear, but these are its footprints in the snow.