a form of questions

7/28/2019 A Form of Questions

1/17


2/17


3/17

Yes-no questions

How to form yes-no questions

In English, a special word order (Verb Subject Object) is used to form yes-no

questions.

Examples:

Affirmative Yes or No Question~They are American. ~Are they American?

~She is nice ~Is she nice?

The rules

1. If the main verb of the sentence is "to be", simply invert the subject and the verbto be:

Examples:

> They are American. Are they American?

> They are nice.

Are they nice?


4/17

2. If the sentence includes a main verb and another or otherhelping (auxiliary) verb(s), invert the subject and the(first) helping (auxiliary) verb.

Examples:

>They are visiting Paris. Are they visiting Paris?

>She has done the housework.

Has she done the housework

>Nancy has been working all night long. Has Nancy beenworking all night long?

>He will be reading the book.Will he be reading the book?


5/17

3. If the sentence includes a verb which is not the verb "to be" and doesn't include a helping(auxiliary) verb, the transformation is more complex.

a. If the verb is in the present tense, add either do or does and put the main verb in its baseform:

do if the subject is the first person singular, second person singular, first person plural,second person plural and third person plural (I, you, we, they)

Examples:~I like apples.Do you like apples?

~They go to a high school.

Do the go to a high school?

does if the subject is the third person singular (he, she, it).

Examples:~Nancy reads a lot.Does Nancy reada lot?~He hates basketball.Does he hate basketball?

b.If the verb is in the past tense, add did and put the main verb in its base form:

Examples:

~He discoveredthe truth.Did he discoverthe truth?

~She write a nice essay.

Did she write a nice essay?~They didthe homework.Did they do the homework?


6/17


7/17

DEFINITION:

A "tag" is something small that we add to something larger. For example, the littlepiece of cloth added to a shirt showing size or washing instructions is a tag.We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for confirmation. They meansomething like: "Am I right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very common in English. The basic structure is:Notice that the question tag repeats the auxiliary verb (or main verb when be) fromthe statement and changes it to negative or positive.

statement question tag

+Positive statement,

-negative tag?

Snow is white, isn't it?

-Negative statement,

+positive tag?

You don't like me, do you?


8/17

Positive Statement Tag Questions

Look at these examples with positive statements. You will see that most ofthe time, the auxiliary verb from the positive statement is repeated in the tagand changed to negative.

positive statement [+] negative tag [-] notes:

subject auxiliary main verb auxiliary not personalpronoun

(same as

subject)

You are coming, are n't you?

We have finished, have n't we?

You do like coffee, do n't you?

You like coffee, do n't you? You (do)like...*

They will help, wo n't they? won't = willnot

I can come, can 't I?

We must go, must n't we?

He should try harder, should n't he?

You are English, are n't you? no auxiliaryfor main

verb beprese

nt & past

John was there, was n't he?


9/17

negative statement [-] positive tag [+]

subject auxiliary main verb auxiliary personalpronoun

(same as

subject)

It is n't raining, is it?We have never seen that, have we?

You do n't like coffee, do you?

They will not help, will they?

They wo n't report us, will they?

I can never do it right, can I?We must n't tell her, must we?

He should n't drive so fast, should he?

You wo n't be late, will you?

You are n't English, are you?

John

was

not

there,

was

he?

Negative Statement Tag Questions

Look at these examples with negative statements. Notice that the negative verb in the originalstatement is changed to positive in the tag.


10/17

tag question correct answer

Snow is white, isn't

it?

Yes (it is). the answer is thesame in both cases -

because snow ISWHITE!

but notice the

change

of stress when theanswerer does not

agree with the

questioner

Snow isn't white, is

it?

Yes it is!

Snow is black, isn't

it?

No it isn't! the answer is thesame in both cases -

because snow ISNOT BLACK!Snow isn't black, is

it?

No (it isn't).

Answer a tag question according to the truth of the situation. Your answer reflectsthe real facts, not (necessarily) the question.For example, everyone knows that snow is white. Look at these questions, and thecorrect answers:


11/17

In some languages, people answer a question like "Snow

isn't black, is it?" with "Yes" (meaning "Yes, I agree withyou"). This is the wrong answer in English!

>Here are some more examples, with correct answers:

~The moon goes round the earth, doesn't it? Yes, it does.~The earth is bigger than the moon, isn't it? Yes.

~The earth is bigger than the sun, isn't it? No, it isn't!

~Asian people don't like rice, do they? Yes, they do!

~Elephants live in Europe, don't they? No, they don't!~Men don't have babies, do they? No.

~The English alphabet doesn't have 40 letters, does it? No,

it doesn't.


12/17

positive statement treated as negative

statement

positive tag

He never came again, did he?

She can rarely come these days, can she?

You hardly ever came late, did you?

I barely know you, do I?

You would scarcely expect her to know

that,

would you?

Tag Question Special CasesNegative Adverbs

The adverbs never, rarely, seldom, hardly, barelyand scarcelyhave a negative sense. Eventhough they may be in a positive statement, the feeling of the statement is negative. We treatstatements with these words like negative statements, so the question tag is normally positive.Look at these examples:


13/17

I am right, aren't I? aren't I (not amn't I)

You have to go, don't you? you (do) have to go...

I have been answering, haven't

I?

use first auxiliary

Nothing came in the

post, did it?

treat statements with nothing,

nobody etc like negative

statements

Let's go, shall we? let's = let us

He'd better do it, hadn't he? he had better (no auxiliary)

Some More Special Cases


14/17


15/17

WH Question Words

Definition:

A term in generative grammar for a question that is

formed with an interrogative word (what, who,

whom, whose, which, when, where, why, or how)and that expects an answer other than "yes" or "no."

Contrast with yes-no question.
http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/gengrammterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/questionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/interrogaterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/yesnoquestionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/yesnoquestionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/yesnoquestionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/yesnoquestionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/yesnoquestionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/interrogaterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/questionterm.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/gengrammterm.htm


16/17

Question Word Function Example

what asking for information about something What is your name?

asking for repetition or confirmation What? I can't hear you.You did what?

what...for asking for a reason, asking why What did you do that for?

when asking about time When did he leave?

where asking in or at what place or position Where do they live?

which asking about choice Which colour do you want?

who asking what or which person or people(subject)

Who opened the door?

whom asking what or which person or people

(object)

Whom did you see?

whose asking about ownership Whose are these keys?Whose turn is it?

why asking for reason, asking what...for Why do you say that?

why don't making a suggestion Why don't I help you?

how asking about manner How does this work?

asking about condition or quality How was your exam?

how + adj/adv asking about extent or degree see examples below

how fardistance How far is Pattaya from Bangkok?

how longlength (time or space) How long will it take?

how manyquantity (countable) How many cars are there?

how muchquantity (uncountable) How much money do you have?

how oldage How old are you?

how come (informal) asking for reason, asking why How come I can't see her?


17/17

a form of questions

Documents