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Do people actually say, for example, "What does it means?" in conversation, instead of "What does it mean?"?

Because so many people nowadays make that grammatical error in writing, obviously thinking it's correct--that is, they don't know how to form a question correctly with "does" or "do" or "did". But I've never heard anyone make that error in speaking. So do they do that?

Update:

I mean, do some people do that. Obviously not everyone does it.

6 Answers

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  • RP
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    Some may, but, if fluent in English, they'd be few and far between.

  • 2 years ago

    Maybe, but not many that I have contact with on a regular basis. Or maybe they do and I refuse to hear it the way they say it, via my autofilter brain function. I cannot say that I have heard anyone say it that way recently, that is for sure. A child might, and a foreign-language speaker might, but not any English as a first language person I meet in the normal course of my life.

  • Cara
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    No, unless they are a non-native English speaker.

  • 2 years ago

    the singular ["mean"] is appropriate since the antecedent ["it"] is singular

  • 2 years ago

    No, not really. 'Means' is a method by which a result is brought about, like a means to a problem. 'Mean' is the intent to convey or signify something, like "I don't know what you mean?" Where 'what' is the thing we're confused about. "What does it means" would be grammatically incorrect, and I've never heard it outside of exaggerated accents.

  • 2 years ago

    What does that mean?

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