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The banks have made it clear that there's no question of customers losing their credit status in light of the recent mortgage rate scandal.

According to the dictionary:

there's no question of (something):

  1. There is no doubt that something exists or is the case.

  2. There is no possibility that something is the case or will happen.

So actually this sentence has 2 meanings which contradict each other, although I'm aware that the most possible reading is: customers won't lose their credit status.

My question is why this construction has 2 opposite meanings. Could you explain the logic behind this?

ForOU
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    The two different usages are 1) There's no question of* X [being true]* (X is definitely *not true, and that assertion cannot be questioned / refuted), and 2) There's no question that X [is true]* (X is definitely *true, and that* assertion cannot be questioned). It's all about the preposition - something has already been decided, and that decision can't be reversed, but whether the decision is that something is true, or that something is false depends on how exactly it's phrased. – FumbleFingers Jan 19 '20 at 14:58
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    (That's to say, there are *two* different "constructions" here, not just one.) – FumbleFingers Jan 19 '20 at 15:05
  • @FumbleFingers How about There's no question of his loyalty? Can you not say this to mean that there's no doubt about his loyalty? – JK2 May 04 '23 at 23:53
  • I didn't think of this before, but There's no question of his loyalty / guilty / honesty means he definitely *is* loyal / guilty / honest. Which is the "opposite" of There's no question of him going to prison (he definitely *won't* go to prison). – FumbleFingers May 05 '23 at 12:16

1 Answers1

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1: There's no question that [something will happen]
...is almost always an emphatic assertion that "something" will happen.
There's no question that he will go to prison (he will)

2a: There's no question of [something happening]
...almost always means that something definitely won't happen.
There's no question of him going to prison (he won't)

2b: There's no question about [something happening / being true]
...(relatively uncommon) usually means it will happen / is true.
There's no question about him being guilty (he is)

2c: There's no question of | about [attribute]
...usually means "attribute" is true / real / exists.
There's no question of his honesty (he is honest)
There's no question about his guilt (he is guilty)

It's important to note that since there's "no question, no doubt, no uncertainty", it's almost always contextually obvious which of the two "superficially opposite" senses applies with 2a / 2b / 2c above

See The English Linguistics Project for more details.

FumbleFingers
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