Ok, me and some friends have a running argument about the sentence "Guess What"

Most people think it's a question, and put a "?" after it. I on the other hand think it is a command sentence. Cause if u pull apart the sentence, u'll find out that the subject is "you understood". Pretty much any time you understood is the subject, you have a command sentence... as in "Look at that!" or "Go to Bed!" The verb in the sentence would be "guess" and "what" would be the direct object. The subject would definately be "you understood", making it a command sentence.. The sentence is telling someone to "guess what", which means "ask me "what". One of my friends asked his dad, cause he is an english professor.. he said he didn't know.

It's a rehtorical question, or command I guess...
Almost no-one ever actually expects you to guess when you say "guess what?", thats just a way of saying "I have news!" or similar.

well, it's not a rhetorical question, cause first off, a retorical question is a QUESTION.. and more spicifically it is a question in which no answer is expected... when you say "Guess what!" you are expecting them to reply with "what?" so that you can continue the story... so in essence, you are enticing them to ask about an even by TELLING or COmmanding them to "guess what".
To strengthen my argument.. you can extend the sentence by saying "you'll never guess what happened". This sentence is not a question... it's not really a command sentence either, but it is not a question. If you take out the beginning part, it is commanding you to "guess what" no matter if you'll ever guess or not... so it seems to be a command sentence to me.

You need to look at both sides of it. I'm not for one side or the other, I think it's both. I can easily turn right around and say "Can you guess what happened?" Adding words doesn't prove anything as it's those words that make the sentence what it is.

It's a command, duh.

I don't generally use it as a question, I use it as a command. The long version would be:

I am commanding you to guess.

"Guess what" on its own is definitely an imperative construction... there's just no other way it makes grammatical sense. But, given the way/tone it's usually said, with what being at a higher pitch than guess, and the fact that 'what' is usually a 'question word', it's understandable that people might think it's a question.

The real test of its questionality, as it were, is that all questions (even rhetorical ones, on a grammatical level) expect some sort of factual response, information to fill in the gap left by the question: "Red," 'Yes," "MENKEY!!".
"Guess what" doesn't ask for any such information... it's telling the listener to ask; the usual response is, "I don't know. What?"

I find it difficult to take your question seriouslly when you're using terms like "u'll."

JediKirby

I put a question mark behind every sentence that gets higher in pitch at the end.

So if I'm really excited I go, "Guess what?" But if I'm tired and angry I'm like "Guess what."

I'm with Kirby.
You don't get to have grammatical arguments when you use internet slang, it's hypocrisy!

Only a click away!

I always guess something very out of the ordinary.

You have no idea how much I want to ravage you, Thrawnnumbars.

Now, I'm neutral in your little vendetta okay? Get back!

Letttt there be peace on earht, and let it begin with meee!

AH, I love that song, there was an awesome anime music video to that, from an anime called Kite I think.
Very bloody stuff, it was awesome.

Where in the hell are you getting "you understood" from?

chicken butt!

/me loves some Thrawnyfortytwosixtyeightniner

By 'you understood' he means that the implied subject of the command (the person who's supposed to do the action) is the listener, or 'you'- hence the 'you' is understood.

I can not believe that you would bringing up the fact that I said "u'll" instead of "you'll". Typing "u" instead of "you" is not a gramatical error, it is a quicker way to get the idea across. I also do not see wht it matters, I wasn't writing a term paper, I was posting on a Star Wars gaming forum. So "u'll" is fine.. and if u want to get technical.. there is only 1 "L" in Seriously..

I was going to play the Devil's advocate and try to argue the side of the question mark, but a little research quickly convinced me otherwise. It's clearly an imperitive. The problem arises because the word "guess" implies an interrogative sense, and people get the feeling it needs a question mark. Also, the use of the question mark may have been influenced by the phrase "know what?", which clearly requires a question mark (being an abbreviated version of "Do you know what?")

Personally, I don't think the phrase "guess what" should really be used by itself as a complete sentence. "What" is a pronoun, and as such can't really stand alone without something to refer to. You wouldn't say "guess him" or "guess it" (unless you phrased it something like "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten. Guess it."). I think the phrase "guess what" should really be followed with some explanation, such as "guess what number I'm thinking of," or "Guess what I was doing at this time last night."

I must admit, though, everytime I type "guess what," I get an odd compulsion to put a question mark after it. I guess I just don't like commanding people to guess things. It seems more polite to request it.

uk.

What

When all else fails, use both.

Guess what!?

In other news, "seriouslly" could have been a typo more easily than "u'll" could have been. In this case, "u'll" was deliberate.

Gah. After writing that, it makes me feel incredibly unclean.

Thats why we ficks are typo's. :p

Wind.

Isn't it annoying! You don't know if I just said wind (win-d) or wind! (whine-d)

Yes, its official, Americans finally realise they cannot speak English.

In other news American English isn't English, it’s a tragic butchering of a language because you just can't get it right

I love you.

Its a command, a shortened version of "Guess what <Happened, I know, Your sister did, You've got stuck on your back>"

You forgot an apostrophe in your first "its."

:p

Not that any British or Austrailian or Canadian or other nationality speaks English perfectly either.