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February 20

What's more frequent in fluent speech?

1. John: "She went". David: "What? She went?"

2. John: "She went". David: "What? Did she go?"

79.177.152.211 (talk) 19:50, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You left out the more obvious option: "She did?" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:00, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And also Did she?

Replying as a speaker of British English.

Did she go? is unnatural as a reply; it's a request for information, and the speaker has just been told that she went. The other three are all fine. There's a slight difference of emphasis though: I'd say that She did? and She went? both express slightly more surprise than Did she?, at least in British usage. Musiconeologist (talk) 20:13, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In American English, the first implies that David is questioning her motives or reasoning, implying that he can't believe that she went somewhere. The second implies that David is questioning the validity of John's statement, clarifying that what David heard is what John meant. Other than the faint implication, which may very well be radically different in other forms of English, they mean the same thing. Further, neither is more frequent. David's response would be more terse as in "Really?" or Bugs' example of "She did?" 68.187.174.155 (talk) 20:06, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, "Really?" works too. And the way it's said could vary depending on the two scenarios you're describing. I think the only reason for David to essentially restate John's comment is if he actually did not quite follow what John was saying. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:57, 21 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In Australia we might say "Fair dinkum?" HiLo48 (talk) 01:19, 21 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]