@article{oai:nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp:00016157, author = {Sonoda, Kenji}, issue = {2}, journal = {保健学研究, Health science research}, month = {Mar}, note = {Sentences that begin with Why don’t you (I, we) or Why not are primarily interrogatives, and they normally take question marks. A large number of these instances are used with question marks, but some of them are not. The instances with question marks can imply suggestions, offers or requests as well as doubt or interrogative meanings. The instances without question marks can also imply suggestions, offers or requests. The expressions similar to Why don’t you or why not include How (What)about, Can I, Can( Could) you, Can’t( Couldn’t) you, Will( Would) you, Won’t( Wouldn’t) you and Will (Would) … please. The objective of this article is to explore how and why these expressions are sometimes used without question marks. The instances were largely taken from the corpora in the BNC and Wordbanks. Although both of these expressions used with or without question marks can show suggestions, offers or requests, when they are not used with question marks, they sound less polite than when they are used with them., 保健学研究 = Health Science Research 21(2): 65-71, 2009}, pages = {65--71}, title = {Omission of a Question Mark in Such Expressions As Why don’t you or Why not}, volume = {21}, year = {2009} }