Have you ever…?

2011 Spoken Genre

“Have you (ever)…?” is a commonly used phrase. It functions mainly to introduce a topic for

discussion or evaluation, rather than as a direct request for information.

Here is a conversation about unusual foods from the British National Corpus:

A: Have you ever tried octopus?

B: Erm no. Have you?

A: Er no I haven't. No. I mean, squid I've eaten a lot of. Bit like that isn't

it?

B: Squid?

A: Yeah.

B: I've had octopus soup. That was quite well a weird taste.

A: I like shark. Have you eaten shark?

B: Oh I like shark, it's really nice cos it it's really meaty, I mean, it's like

eating meat.

A: Like steak though isn't it?

B: Yeah

Here is some information about function keys on computers:

Function Keys and What They Do ...

Have you ever looked at that top row of keys on your keyboard and wondered

what they’re for? I’m sure we all have. Those keys, that are labeled F1-F12, are

referred to as Function Keys, and were mainly used back in the days of DOS.

Now, you will probably hardly ever use them, if you ever even do. However, these function keys

allow users to perform some useful shortcuts for computer programs. These keys are usually used

in conjunction with the CTRL and ALT key, and sometimes the Shift key.

(Source: http://www.cookco.us/technology/function_keys.htm)

Have you ever…?

2011 Spoken Genre

Teacher`s Notes

Context

The spoken section of the British National Corpus shows that the phrase “Have you ever…?”

generally has two main functions. The first is to introduce or draw attention to a particular

topic as being a part of our shared experience and perception of the world around us. For this

reason, it is mainly used as an interpersonal pragmatic device for conversation and not

necessarily to get specific information. A science teacher might use it to start a class discussion

of some phenomenon or friends might use it to suggest a restaurant for dinner. It can also be

used to give some advice with “Have you thought of ~ing?”. Within written discourse, it is often

used to draw readers into a topic, as in the example above. The second function is to introduce

an appraisal genre. Rather than a story genre as it is generally used within EFL textbooks, often

to introduce and practise asking simple past questions for more information about some event,

the phrase is, in fact, used to evaluate the experience of that event, such as trying a strange food

as in the conversation above, rather than about when or where we ate it.

Content

Ideational Content: The phrase is used to primarily talk about our perception of experience and

not the experience itself. As such, it uses mainly mental Process rather than material Processes.

Note in the conversation above they talk about whether they liked shark (mental) rather than

ate shark (material). Here are some examples from the British National Corpus:

Perception: Have you ever… seen the musical Les Miserables?

heard of the term, man hours?

noticed that your grandparents get shorter?

felt so angry about it that you’ve written a song?

watched people reading to themselves?

Cognition: Have you ever… thought of joining a club?

wondered what all those ingredients on packaged food are?

found it difficult to express yourself?

Desiderative: Have you ever… needed a break from the pressures of work?

wanted to do anything other than your job now?

tempted to go professional?

Have you ever…?

2011 Spoken Genre

Interpersonal Content: The phrase is generally used with a lot of evaluative vocabulary, such as

“weird taste” and “really meaty” or “allow users” and “useful shortcuts”, with a lot of hedging,

such as “I mean” or “I’m sure”. It is also used with high modality, especially in written discourse

such as “probably hardly ever”. Being mainly pragmatic in function, it is also notable in written

discourse for the relatively high use of personal pronouns and in spoken discourse for tag

questions. In spoken discourse note also the interpersonal use of minor clauses, “Erm”, “Oh”

and “Yeah”.

Textual Content: The textual choices are notable for signaling the interpersonal content of the

discourse. Note the high use of ellipted clauses to highlight the relational Processes in spoken

discourse, such as “It’s like eating meat”. Note also the unusual Theme position of Goal in

“Squid I’ve eaten a lot of”. Within written discourse, note the switching between textual

Themes (“Now”, “However”) and topical Themes (“These keys”) and also the switch between

“Those keys” in the introduction and “These keys” in the main body.

Expression

As the phrase is mainly used to introduce a topic, in spoken discourse it is usually blended to

signal it as given information and a louder tone and higher pitch is used to highlight the new

content information:

A: Have you ever tried octopus? (vyaever tried OCTOPUS?)

B: Erm no. Have you? (Erm no. vYOU?)