Don't you vs Right

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LizaGoldberg
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Don't you vs Right

Postby LizaGoldberg » Tue Jan 21, 2025 1:05 pm

Hello!… I want to ask something, if I may.
What's the difference between:
> You want her, don't you?
> You want her, right?

Is it wrong if I use the first example? Someone said to me that I was wrong using the first one, even he said I should learn from a native speaker.

TIA for your answer.
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Iversen
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Re: Don't you vs Right

Postby Iversen » Tue Jan 21, 2025 2:04 pm

Both are OK, but no. 2 is rather coarse (style "take it or leave it" from a pimp or used car dealer), while no. 1 is neutral bordering on polite (are you interested?), with a hidden message of "then do something about it".
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alcarazesco
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Re: Don't you vs Right

Postby alcarazesco » Sat Jan 25, 2025 10:57 pm

I'm a native speaker. The basically mean the same thing. Both are acceptable, though "right?" may be considered less formal.
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Cainntear
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Re: Don't you vs Right

Postby Cainntear » Sun Jan 26, 2025 12:00 pm

LizaGoldberg wrote:Hello!… I want to ask something, if I may.
What's the difference between:
> You want her, don't you?
> You want her, right?

Is it wrong if I use the first example? Someone said to me that I was wrong using the first one, even he said I should learn from a native speaker.

TIA for your answer.

Many learners struggle with the grammar required to give the first answer, because most of their own languages don't have anything similar.
This means many teachers opt to just use the second, because almost every language has one word that does the same job.

Many learners will assume that anything their teacher didn't tell them to do is an "error", and they will try to "correct" people who are actually better at the language than them.

I personally always made a point of trying to teach the complicated version (don't you, aren't they, wouldn't we etc) because I felt that it was just a better use of my teaching time, because it also helps teach and reinforce question order etc...
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