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milk-withholding

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

does or is?

English answer:

Both are OK

Added to glossary by Ines Garcia Botana
Apr 6, 2008 04:05
16 yrs ago
English term

does or is?

English Other Education / Pedagogy Grammar
How many hours does the superstore open on weekdays?

Is this sentence wrong?
Should it be "is" instead of "does"? Does that question sound natural in English?
Responses
4 +15 Both are OK
5 +3 does
4 +3 is
5 +1 neither are perfect
5 is
4 you need to add "for" after open
4 sounds wrong to me - "is" OR "does +..."

Discussion

Mark Berelekhis Apr 6, 2008:
Yep, either "are any shops open..." or "do any shops stay open..."
Michael Tovbin Apr 6, 2008:
No one in the US would say "do" in this case. "Are".
Ines Garcia Botana (asker) Apr 6, 2008:
Sentences taken from an English book How many hours does the superstore open on weekdays? [In English Starter, p.76]
Is that possible? It looks like a misprint to me.
There is one more sentence of this kind at the end of the same unit:
Do any shops open twenty-four hours a day? [Do or are?]
David Hollywood Apr 6, 2008:
you can really use either but "does"means what they want to do

Responses

+15
2 hrs
Selected

Both are OK

One says is, one says does, one says neither are perfect (should be neither is perfect), and I'm taking the only other option and saying both versions are quite acceptable (in UK English anyway).
Peer comment(s):
agree Sheila Wilson : I agree absolutely. You can of course rephrase in a hundred different ways, but both are OK
31 mins
Thank you.
agree Expialidocio (X) : The meaning is slightly different, but both are correct.
40 mins
Thank you.
agree writeaway
1 hr
Thank you
agree Melzie
1 hr
Thank you.
agree David Moore (X)
1 hr
Thank you.
agree cmwilliams (X)
2 hrs
Thank you.
agree PoveyTrans (X)
3 hrs
Thank you.
agree Jack Dunwell : common useage. I'd like to know about "does", it's starting to sound strange!
3 hrs
Thank you. It doesn't sound strange to me in the context of this question.
agree Craig Meulen
3 hrs
Thank you.
agree Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
4 hrs
Thank you.
agree Asghar Bhatti
6 hrs
Thank you.
agree Claire Chapman : ditto CherryPie
7 hrs
Thank you.
agree Ulrike Kraemer
7 hrs
Thank you.
agree Patricia Townshend (X)
8 hrs
Thank you.
agree V_Nedkov
17 days
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you to all of you! Your answers have enlightened me!"
+3
1 min

does

:)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2008-04-06 04:09:05 GMT)
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you could also say "is" but "does" gives the idea that they want to

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Note added at 3 mins (2008-04-06 04:09:47 GMT)
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the sentence is perfect :)

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Note added at 4 mins (2008-04-06 04:10:37 GMT)
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absolutely perfect :)

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Note added at 8 mins (2008-04-06 04:14:02 GMT)
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the English is absoluteltly accurate :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 mins (2008-04-06 04:15:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"does" means what is thier opening hours policy
Peer comment(s):
neutral Michael Tovbin : Did you mean "How many hours does the superstore STAY open on weekdays?"
17 mins
agree JaneTranslates : Sounds perfectly natural to me (US English).
1 hr
agree Ulrike Kraemer : and to me (although im not a NSofE) ;-)
2 hrs
agree writeaway : agree with your added comments. both are indeed possible.
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
+3
7 mins

is

"does" sounds stilted in English.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2008-04-06 04:19:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In (US) English, no one would pose a question like that at all. A more natural thing to ask would be when a store opens or what the store hours are on weekdays.
Peer comment(s):
neutral David Hollywood : are you kidding ? don't want to be intrusive but there is a subtle difference
2 mins
Is that a rational or an emotional response?
neutral writeaway : both are ok (in all English afaik, including US). it's just basic conversational English. your drastic statement in the ATA box is inocorrect and misleading. I don't want to give a disagree but you deserve one ;-)/as someone born & raised in US, I have
3 hrs
Knock yourself out, if I deserve one. I have never encountered "does" used like this over here. I believe that was reason enough for the comment.
agree Damon Erickson : Sounds like there is a strong difference of opinion between US and UK English. To my US ears, "does" sounds odd. The reason is this: "The superstore is open 12 hours on weekdays" sounds better to me than "the superstore does open 12 hours on weekdays."
12 hrs
agree veratek : with damon/michael - the original sounded weird to me
15 hrs
agree Trudy Peters
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
20 mins

neither are perfect

IMHO, neither sound very natural in English. If (and this is a big if) you must keep the phrasing similar to your version, I'd suggest:

"What are the hours that the superstore is/stays open on weekdays?"

However, otherwise I would strongly suggest something like:

"What are the superstore's weekday working hours?"
Peer comment(s):
neutral writeaway : neither "is" perfect . and don't agree anyway, since both are ok. I don't want to give a disagree but you deserve one ;-) . (http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data... http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/038.html )
3 hrs
neutral Jack Dunwell : neither"is" perfect (as writeaway)
5 hrs
agree veratek : with What are the hours that the superstore is/stays open on weekdays?"
15 hrs
Thank you, Vera.
Something went wrong...
7 hrs

you need to add "for" after open

then both "does" and "is" are ok
Something went wrong...
7 hrs

sounds wrong to me - "is" OR "does +..."

how many hours is the superstore open on weekdays?

or how many hours is the superstore open for on weekdays?

or

how many hours does the superstore open for on weekdays?

or

how many hours does the superstore stay open (for) on weekdays

sorry if I'm overlapping other answers, but these are the options that seem feasible to me - I don't think you can say"how many hours does it open" on its own

Of course, "for how many hours is the s. open", etc., etc., though this sounds less colloquial
Something went wrong...
84 days

is

"How long is the store open tomorrow?" would be the best way to put. "How many hours is the store open tomorrow?" is grammatically correct, but it sounds awkward.
Something went wrong...
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