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I believe 「ここに住所を書いてくださいますか?」 means “Could you please write the address here?”

And 「ここに住所を書いてくださいませんか?」 means “Would you please write the address here?”

An exercise I’m doing shows the second sentence as the correct answer, but to my understanding both sentences are grammatically correct.

Am I right, or am I missing something?

Here’s the exercise, I have to choose what to fit in the gap to make a correct sentence.

ここに住所を書いて_______ か?

a. くださいます
b. くださいません

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  • This link may help you. coelang.tufs.ac.jp/mt/ja/gmod/contents/explanation/057.html Sep 18, 2018 at 8:26
  • 2
    「ここに住所を書いてくださいますか?」「ここに住所を書いてくださいませんか?」 どちらも正しい文だと思いますけど・・・ 文脈も全くなしで? どこに載ってる問題ですか? ネットで見られます?
    – chocolate
    Sep 19, 2018 at 23:33

1 Answer 1

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According to "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" page 210:
"the negative question form makes a request more polite"

example:
明日八時に来てくださいませんか。
Would you please come at eight o'clock tomorrow?

But it doesn't say anything about the positive question form.

But the site below says that くださいますか is correct:
結論からいうと、「くださいますか」は日本語として正しいです。
https://www.rirekisyodo.com/study/doublehonorific-point.html

My guess is that your exercise was based on grammar books which still don't recognize the positive question form.

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