Assignment Topic 20100926 contributed by kyung jin Lee

 

<"Negative question">

 

My topic began with negative questions in English.

It is clear that the way of negative question in Korean is different from English when we answer. Grammatically, this is the most confusing part in Korean. So a lot of Korean often misunderstand the intention of native speakers of English.

This is a story when I was in Canada. At that time, one of my friends was homestaying with Canadian who was from South America. I've met her, she was nice and she likes to take care of others. One day, they had big dinner. As soon as my friend ate up all his dish, the homestay mother suggested to eat more to him by using a negative question. He already felt full and he couldn't eat anymore. However, he answered reversely due to a confusing negative question.

Although he couldn't eat more, he had to eat more. Because it was her favor so he couldn't refuse. In Korean custom, it is important to accept other's favor even if he or she is not good condition. Of course he could decline her favor by correcting his opinion but he didn't do that.