Should you answer yes or no to the question of ‘Don’t you think?’ The question is always preceeded by a statement of some kind. Here’s an example: ‘Tony Blair is a good Prime Minister, don’t you think?’ Assuming that he is a good PM, the answer to the question is ‘yes’. However, just a simple rewording of the sentence completely changes the meaning.
‘Do you not think Tony Blair is a good PM?’ Answering ‘yes’ to this question means that you think he is a bad PM. (Or it can mean that you think he is a good PM, depending on the inflection). Another rewording can change the meaning back again:
‘Don’t you think Tony Blair is a good PM?’ Once again ‘yes’ means that you think he is a good PM.
So what happened? Why the change of answer for the question which has only had the words rearranged?
Much of the answer lies in the fine details of the English language which I don’t know enough about to explain. However, I believe the answer lies in how the brain interprets the question.
If I ask my 2 year old daughter ‘Do you not want any more food?’, she will answer ‘yes’. I.e., Yes I do not want any more food. However asking the same question to an adult, they will respond ‘no’.
Interesting, don’t you think?
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