# I want to know what type of sentence this is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-what-type-of-sentence-this-is/373198 "2006-09-18T16:59:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bonton63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@Bonton63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonton63)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-what-type-of-sentence-this-is/373198/21 "2006-09-20T18:14:04Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] No, it was not intentional. The examples you gave are part of the pattern. Someone might say: “See, I went to the _store_? And there was this _guy_? And he asked me to give him some _money_? I mean WTF?” Initially, people only spoke like that, but I see it more often now in writing. A related form of this pattern is when an answer is given, with a question mark at the end: [Question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=388578) : “Why do old men wear their baseball caps that way?” Answer: “They forget how to adjust the size?” The answer could be rephrased as “Could the reason be that they forget how to adjust the size?” but this latter formulation is not as declarative as “They forget how to adjust the size?” “They forget how to adjust the size?” seems to indicate that the speaker is more sure that that could be a possible answer, than if he were to ask “Could the reason be that they forget how to adjust the size?” [/QUOTE] Another thing that’s wierd is that my cousins in NJ/PA ask their questions in a declarative tone. Like Are you going to the _zoo_ (UP) today(dn). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-what-type-of-sentence-this-is/373198/22 "2006-09-21T03:31:13Z")
The upward inflection at the end of a declarative sentence indicating insecurity was the subject of a segment on NPR circa 1992 in which it was identified as _intonational rise_. Apparently, no one else heard the piece… since I’ve used the phrase a number of times over the years and no one else has ever recognized what I was talking about! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-what-type-of-sentence-this-is/373198.md?page=1)