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When I talk about something,I will tell people not to do something and why,so,should I use

Why should not we do sth.

or

Why we should not do sht.

Which one is grammatically correct?

user17856
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  • The first is a question; the second is a fused relative clause which can be part (subject or object) of a statement. – StoneyB on hiatus Mar 03 '15 at 15:40
  • @StoneyB: True, but *why should not we* point out that it's an extremely stilted/poetic word order unless contracted to *why **shouldn't** we*. The normal uncontracted form is *why should we not [do sth]*. – FumbleFingers Mar 03 '15 at 16:04
  • @FumbleFingers so why shouldn't we and why should we not both are grammatically right,the first strongly suggest someone to do something,and the second against it? – user17856 Mar 03 '15 at 16:20
  • @user17856: Contracted or not, both sequences are "grammatically correct". As StoneyB says, your first example is a complete sentence/utterance (specifically, a *question*) - it's just that idiomatically, native speakers would almost *never* use that sequence without contracting it (it's so rare some people would probably mistakenly think the uncontracted form is somehow "invalid"). Your second example isn't a sentence at all - it's just a "noun phrase" (specifically, a "fused relative clause"), which occurs quite naturally *within* sentences (whether it's informally contracted or not). – FumbleFingers Mar 03 '15 at 16:52
  • @FumbleFingers If that's the point at issue, then it's a duplicate of [this](http://ell.stackexchange.com/q/19577/32). – StoneyB on hiatus Mar 03 '15 at 17:00
  • @StoneyB: Given OP's comment, I think it *is* a dup of the one you picked out (rather than the one that three others have CV'd against). I find it interesting that some posters on the earlier question actually say uncontracted *Why should not we [do it]?* really *is* "ungrammatical". I wouldn't go that far myself, but I think from the average learner's point of view it's probably okay to think that (or think what they like, so long as they only ever *use* the contracted form! :) – FumbleFingers Mar 03 '15 at 17:11

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