Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Speech acts | 705

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[speaker A is a university academic; B is an ex-student who is looking for

occasional work]

A: I could give you jobs to do in the library for me and you could save me hours

and hours of work. 

B: I’d really like to be still doing stuff like that actually. Cos I really miss that. 

A: 

Well 

why don’t you come up some time

. 

B: Well I will, yes. 

C: That’s a marvellous idea. 

B: Yeah. 

A: Come up in the spring when it’s at its loveliest. 

(invitation)

Why don’t you just shut up for a moment and listen to me!

(directive)

Why don’t

in making suggestions is also followed frequently by I and we, and, less

frequently, by references to third parties:

Why don’t I make us a nice cup of tea

. We’ll all feel better then.

A: Yeah. Well, look, use your lunch hour to find your way around. 

B: By the time I’ve found my way around the place I’ll be starving and my

lunch hour will be gone. 

A: 

Well 

why don’t I make you lunch then

. I’ll make you some sandwiches then. 

B: We could use that meat. 

A: Yeah. 

B: Yeah.

A: So I said to Sarah 

why don’t we come to New York with you for your first

week? 

B: Sounds good. 

A: I think that’s what we’re going to do. 

B: Mm. Oh well that’ll be all right won’t it? 

A: Yeah.

[speaking on the phone]

You’d think it’d be cheaper to get a little van. … Oh. … Well wouldn’t it be

worth suggesting to Gary at some stage 

why don’t they get a small van

so … Oh

right. Mm still seems stupid.

Why not

Why not

is also used to make suggestions. It differs from why don’t you in that the

suggestion is often a more general one, not necessarily directly aimed at the

listener. It is common in advertising and promotional contexts, where the

addressee is non-specific:

[local radio programme: promoting educational training courses]

If this is you and you’d like to get back into education and get on a course 

why

not go along to Fast Forward

. They can help you with your training needs your

child care and your travel and they can also provide the support you need if

you’re not confident about going back to learning.

706 | Speech acts

Cambridge Grammar of English

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[public meeting to decide how best to run a local theatre and to encourage

more people to go to it]

A: Here’s a simple suggestion. 

Why don’t you move the facilities from the stage

door club down to the foyer bar so that a load of people can go in there

.

You’d change the general atmosphere of the foyer bar. 

B: Yeah. Simple. Ambience.

A: I think there’s nothing, Chairman, that £150,000 wouldn’t do. 

B: Well, 

why not go outside for funding?

So, marketing exercise once again.

Although why don’t you can be used to ask a question, why not is not normally

used to ask a question:

[B has been talking about cooking and how he never uses salt]

A: Why don’t you use salt?

B: Well, they say it’s bad for your heart.

(a genuine question as to why B chooses not to use salt)

Why not use salt?

(normally heard as a suggestion)