2011-01-15, 11:59 PM
In college, something I noticed was that many of the Indian teaching assistants and grad students used the word "doubt" to mean "question". As in, "I have a doubt about the homework. Are we required to do problem number 5?" or "Does anyone have any doubts about the assignment".
It may or may not be technically correct usage, but it is certainly not something a native speaker would say. I have only heard Indians use this pattern of speech, never Chinese or any other nationality. I was wondering if anyone here knows of a linguistic explanation, for example the same word in their native language being used for "doubt" and "question".
It may or may not be technically correct usage, but it is certainly not something a native speaker would say. I have only heard Indians use this pattern of speech, never Chinese or any other nationality. I was wondering if anyone here knows of a linguistic explanation, for example the same word in their native language being used for "doubt" and "question".