Are questions ending in は polite or plain?


On my grammar textbook, there is a part about the possibility to ask a
question with just the topic and は, for example:

> お仕事は?

That can mean "what is your job?" or "how is work?".

My question is: Are this kind of questions in polite form or in plain form?




As [the first answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/101572/32952)
points out, all of your examples are already polite, but it's because the use
of honorific prefixes.

As I originally wrote in that first answer's comments, another situation where
は is used as a question is when you ask any question to a person, and then ask
the exact same question to another person just calling them by their name:.

> 【私{わたし}】田中{たなか}さん、スターウォーズが好{す}きですか。
>
> 【田中】はい、好{す}きです。
>
> 【私】木村{きむら}さんは？

> Me: Tanaka, Do you like Star Wars?
>
> Tanaka: Yes, I do.
>
> Me: What about you, Kimura?

In the imaginary conversation above, the polite style is being used, which is
shown in the use of the honorific suffixes さん and saying 好きです (as opposed to
好きだ or 好き, which would be plain). However, this has nothing to do with the use
of questions ending in は. They can also be used when speaking in the plain
form. Imagine I am talking to my close friends 太郎{たろう} and 雄太{ゆうた}:

> 【私】太郎、スターウォーズ好き？
>
> 【太郎】うん。
>
> 【私】雄太は？

> Me: Tarou, do you like Star Wars?
>
> Tarou: Yup.
>
> Me: And you, Yuta?

In the light of the two conversations above, it is clear that having questions
ending in は has little to do with whether the style is polite or plain.

As a general rule, when speaking in informal situations it's more common to
skip particles and other words and to be less explicit and less verbose than
in formal speech, which might give the **wrong** impression that questions
ending in は should be in plain form. While there is some correspondence
between formal contexts and the use of polite form (for example, when talking
to your coworkers at the office) and informal context and the use of the plain
form (for example, in a conversation between close friends), this doesn't mean
that formal contexts necessarily require the use of polite speech and informal
contexts necessarily require the use of plain speech. For example, newspaper
articles are written in the plain form.

See [Does using the characters です at the end of a sentence make almost
everything(depending on the sentence) sound
polite?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/14178/32952) and [When is it
acceptable to use "Newspaper
grammar"?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15765/32952).




As [the first answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/101572/32952)
points out, all of your examples are already polite, but it's because the use
of honorific prefixes.

As I originally wrote in that first answer's comments, another situation where
は is used as a question is when you ask any question to a person, and then ask
the exact same question to another person just calling them by their name:.

> 【私{わたし}】田中{たなか}さん、スターウォーズが好{す}きですか。
>
> 【田中】はい、好{す}きです。
>
> 【私】木村{きむら}さんは？

> Me: Tanaka, Do you like Star Wars?
>
> Tanaka: Yes, I do.
>
> Me: What about you, Kimura?

In the imaginary conversation above, the polite style is being used, which is
shown in the use of the honorific suffixes さん and saying 好きです (as opposed to
好きだ or 好き, which would be plain). However, this has nothing to do with the use
of questions ending in は. They can also be used when speaking in the plain
form. Imagine I am talking to my close friends 太郎{たろう} and 雄太{ゆうた}:

> 【私】太郎、スターウォーズ好き？
>
> 【太郎】うん。
>
> 【私】雄太は？

> Me: Tarou, do you like Star Wars?
>
> Tarou: Yup.
>
> Me: And you, Yuta?

In the light of the two conversations above, it is clear that having questions
ending in は has little to do with whether the style is polite or plain.

As a general rule, when speaking in informal situations it's more common to
skip particles and other words and to be less explicit and less verbose than
in formal speech, which might give the **wrong** impression that questions
ending in は should be in plain form. While there is some correspondence
between formal contexts and the use of polite form (for example, when talking
to your coworkers at the office) and informal context and the use of the plain
form (for example, in a conversation between close friends), this doesn't mean
that formal contexts necessarily require the use of polite speech and informal
contexts necessarily require the use of plain speech. For example, newspaper
articles are written in the plain form.

See [Does using the characters です at the end of a sentence make almost
everything(depending on the sentence) sound
polite?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/14178/32952) and [When is it
acceptable to use "Newspaper
grammar"?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15765/32952).

