Eh, Yeah

[Tony Cooper]

Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.

Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".

Is this noticed by Brits?

I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

[lar3ryca]

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

Same for the 'eh'.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I have experienced different ways in Danish to add something seemingly
superfluous to a sentence (short or very short phrases). Some people do
it all the time. Some of the phrases are sort of questions meaning "do
you see it the same way?"

[Peter Moylan]

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the
sentence is not in the form of a question.

Oh, it's a question, if only a rhetorical question. The "yeah" here
means something like "do you agree?"

I haven't much heard it here, but it does seem to appear in British TV
shows.

[Hibou]

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I think other words are used too - right? yes? no? aren't you? isn't
it?... This page calls them 'tag questions':

"Tag questions are [...] statements turned into questions by adding a
question tag at the end. The tag is a mini-question that we attach to
the end of a sentence" -
<https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentences/interrogative-sentences/>

Americans use them too, right?

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Hibou

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I think other words are used too - right? yes? no? aren't you? isn't
"Tag questions are [...] statements turned into questions by adding a
question tag at the end. The tag is a mini-question that we attach to
the end of a sentence" -
<https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentences/interrogative-sentences/>

My eldest daughter put the tag at the beginning when she was about 5,
if you can call it a tag in that case. She would say "Y'know" and then
pause. I took the "Y'know" to be announcing that she was going to say
something before she had decided what something was.

Post by Hibou
Americans use them too, right?

[Rich Ulrich]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Hibou

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I think other words are used too - right? yes? no? aren't you? isn't
"Tag questions are [...] statements turned into questions by adding a
question tag at the end. The tag is a mini-question that we attach to
the end of a sentence" -
<https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentences/interrogative-sentences/>

My eldest daughter put the tag at the beginning when she was about 5,
if you can call it a tag in that case. She would say "Y'know" and then
pause. I took the "Y'know" to be announcing that she was going to say
something before she had decided what something was.

Is that showing a high degree of self-awareness for a 5-year-old?
It seems like she knows she is about to say something meaningful,
instead of blurting out.

That would be the opposite of the un-awareness illustrated in
the exchange,

"You shouldn't have said that."
"How do I know what I am going to say until I say it?"
- which I reconstruct from having read, in the Foreword of
some book. Possibly on cognitive psychology.

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Hibou
Americans use them too, right?

[occam]

Post by Hibou

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement:  "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence.  The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I think other words are used too - right? yes? no? aren't you? isn't

Except I don't see 'innit' on your grammarly link. 'Innit', like 'yeah'
is a cross between a question and confirmation of what is being said.

I regard both 'tags' as originating from a yobbish person, innit?

Post by Hibou
"Tag questions are [...] statements turned into questions by adding a
question tag at the end. The tag is a mini-question that we attach to
the end of a sentence" -
<https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentences/interrogative-sentences/>
Americans use them too, right?

[lar3ryca]

Post by Hibou

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement:  "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence.  The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I think other words are used too - right? yes? no? aren't you? isn't
"Tag questions are [...] statements turned into questions by adding a
question tag at the end. The tag is a mini-question that we attach to
the end of a sentence" -
<https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentences/interrogative-sentences/>
Americans use them too, right?

The 'eh' and 'yeah' equivalent in the US is 'huh' (vowel rhyming with nut.

[jerryfriedman]

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Hibou

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement:  "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence.  The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.

I think other words are used too - right? yes? no? aren't you? isn't
"Tag questions are [...] statements turned into questions by adding a
question tag at the end. The tag is a mini-question that we attach to
the end of a sentence" -
<https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sentences/interrogative-sentences/>
Americans use them too, right?

The 'eh' and 'yeah' equivalent in the US is 'huh' (vowel rhyming with nut.

Oh yeah, huh. (Something I hear around here when the
speaker is informed of something. A student told me
someone once asked her whether it was a Native American
expression.)

But as remarked twice above, we also have "right?" as an
all-purpose tag question.

--
Jerry Friedman

--

[Paul Carmichael]

Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add "Yeah"
to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on, yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be said
with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence is not
in the form of a question.

I am Brit, but don't do that. But I would hear it as "..., OK?" Same as a
French speaker may add "..., d'accord?" or a Spanish speaker "...,
¿vale?".

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Paul Carmichael

Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add "Yeah"
to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on, yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be said
with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence is not
in the form of a question.

I am Brit, but don't do that. But I would hear it as "..., OK?" Same as a
French speaker may add "..., d'accord?" or a Spanish speaker "...,
¿vale?".

Something I noticed is that French "n'est-ce pas?" is a question that
requires 40 or 50 non-interchangeable translations to English ("is it?"
cannot be replaced by "weren't they?" etc. etc.). Steve can tell us if
the same applies to South African English. The (Afrikaner) South
African that I know best speaks virtually perfect English, but he uses
"isn't it" as a one-size-fits-all tag question.

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
Something I noticed is that French "n'est-ce pas?" is a question that
requires 40 or 50 non-interchangeable translations to English ("is it?"
cannot be replaced by "weren't they?" etc. etc.)

My (native francophone) grandmother would always use "no?" as a tag
question in English. After a few hours with her (before her dementia
made that impossible) I would start doing it, too.

-GAWollman

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Garrett Wollman

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
Something I noticed is that French "n'est-ce pas?" is a question that
requires 40 or 50 non-interchangeable translations to English ("is it?"
cannot be replaced by "weren't they?" etc. etc.)

My (native francophone) grandmother would always use "no?" as a tag
question in English.

Yes, one hears that.

Post by Garrett Wollman
After a few hours with her (before her dementia
made that impossible) I would start doing it, too.
-GAWollman

[occam]

Post by Garrett Wollman

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
Something I noticed is that French "n'est-ce pas?" is a question that
requires 40 or 50 non-interchangeable translations to English ("is it?"
cannot be replaced by "weren't they?" etc. etc.)

My (native francophone) grandmother would always use "no?" as a tag
question in English.

Yes, I still hear it today. Except I've always assumed they were saying
'non?'

[Mike Spencer]

Post by Tony Cooper
Canadians are known for adding "Eh" to an uttered statement.
Watching some British TV shows, I've noticed that many Brits add
"Yeah" to the end of an uttered statement: "I'll put the kettle on,
yeah".
Is this noticed by Brits?

I never noticed this before but hours after reading the above, I
encountered it in the dialog of a British character in a Thomas King
novel. Presumably King had noticed it somewhere and thought of it as
British "flavor" in written dialog.

Post by Tony Cooper
I don't know how to punctuate the sentence. The "yeah" seems to be
said with an inflection normally given to a question, but the sentence
is not in the form of a question.