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So is it right to say "Is John lie?"? If yes, why not "Does John lie?" or "Is John lying?". Sorry if it sounds stupid, but I'm a bit confused.

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Is there something that gave you the impression that the first is ok? – simchona♦ Jan 3 '12 at 22:30
Why the downvotes? Why close the question? It's perfectly clear, specific, complete, narrow, non-rhetorical (better word for that?) and it can be answered in its current form. – phoog Jan 4 '12 at 23:37
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You could improve this question by explaining why you think "is John lie?" would be grammatical or telling us where you saw it. – Monica Cellio Jan 5 '12 at 16:10

closed as not a real question by Mehper C. Palavuzlar, FumbleFingers, jwpat7, Jasper Loy, simchona♦ Jan 3 '12 at 22:44

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

"Is John lie" may be acceptable in some dialect. I suspect it may be in Jamaican patois, due to the words "is not lie" in the Toots and the Maytails song "Monkey Man".

However it is not what a speaker or writer of standard English would use.

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I just heard this phrase in some video. But why you downvote the question? It's disgusting... – lxhgy Jan 3 '12 at 22:51
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@lxhgy--you don't know that slim himself down voted. Down votes are not disgusting; they are tokens of question quality. – simchona♦ Jan 4 '12 at 4:11

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