Office English (Question 1)

Want to speak better office (business) English?  Then there is one thing you can’t afford to miss.  What is it?  Asking questions.  Well, if you think asking questions in English is easy, think again.  You don’t believe it.  Try this one.  Do you know the question below is not really a question?

Didn’t I tell you about it yesterday?

If it is not a question, what is it?  Well, you will get it very soon.  But for now, let’s move on to two common types of questions you ask in your office.

Type 1. Questions to ask when you are not sure…

When you are not sure if your coworker will give you the information you want (or if you want to be polite), you may say:

Do you think you could send me the information (before the end of this month)?

Here, you use ‘do you think’ not to ask for opinions, but to ask your coworker to do something for you.

Well, what about if you are not sure if the coworker has the information you want? Use ‘do you happen to know’:

Do you happen to know which banks offer a better interest rate?

Type 2. Questions that are not questions

Feeling confused?  Why are there questions that are not questions?  Read the coming one and you will get what it means:

Is that a reason for being late?

 

Well, if you are late, and your boss says this to you, don’t answer by saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  Why?  It is not a question.  It only shows that your boss is pretty (very) angry with you.

Okay, you are not always late.  But you want to stand out from others at a meeting, or challenge others, the following question is for you:

What difference does it make?

Type 3. Negative questions

Yes, here you are, the most difficult but funny one.  Sometimes your boss asks a question, but it is said in a negative way.  What does ‘negative’ mean?  Read the example (below):

Didn’t I tell you about it yesterday?

Once again, it doesn’t matter if you answer the question or not.  Why?  (It is) because your boss already has the answer.  Sounds weird (strange)?

So what does this question mean?  It means your boss did tell you about it but you forget about it.  The seven words (that make up the question) mean only one thing: he or she is angry with you.

Yet, sometimes you can do the same trick to you junior (remember your junior only).  If Mr. Not-So-Smart gives you a piece of ‘inside’ information, you may ‘ask’:

Who doesn’t know that?     

So what does it mean?  It means everybody does know about it.  In a word, the ‘doesn’t’ in the question doesn’t mean ‘doesn’t’.