| |
Simple (Yes
/ No) Questions
(#1)
Simple
(Yes
/
No) questions in English are formed in
three
similar but different ways.
The form of simple
questions
depends on whether the statement from which
the question
is made has
BE
(but no
other verb), an
auxiliary
verb
(including
BE) and a main verb,
or
only
a main
verb (not BE
and not
with an auxiliary.)
________________________________________
Making Simple
Questions with BE
To make
simple questions with
a form of BE (is, am, are,
was, were), the form is
BE
+ subject + other
words ?
Examples:
Joe is here today. --->
Is Joe here today?
Alice and Bob were in an
accident.
--->
Were
Alice and Bob in an
accident?
I'm on time. --->
Am I on time?
The weather was nice yesterday.
--->
Was
the weather nice
yesterday?
You're tired. --->
Are you tired?
________________________________________
Answering
Simple Questions with BE
For simple
questions with BE, there are three possible
answers: with
Yes, with No, and I don't know. The
answers with Yes
and
No
can be
either complete
sentences or "abbreviated forms":
Examples:
Is Joe here today? --->
Yes,
Joe (he) is here today.
Yes, he
is.
Yes.
No, Joe (he) isn't here today.
No, he
isn't. (No, he's not.)
No.
I don't know.
Were Alice and Bob in an accident?
--->
Yes, Alice and Bob (they)
were
in
an accident.
Yes, they were.
Yes.
No, Alice and Bob (they) were
not
(weren't)
in an accident.
No, they weren't.
No.
I don't know.
etc.
________________________________________
Special Notes:
| 1. |
|
Contractions are very common in complete
answers--with both Yes and No:
Were Alice and Bob in an
accident?
Yes, they were in an accident.
No, they
weren't in an accident.
Am I on time?
Yes, you're on time.
No,
you aren't (you're not)
on time.
|
| |
|
|
| 2. |
|
Contractions are also common
in
"abbreviated"
answers, but only
with No:
Is Joe here today?
Yes, he is.
No, he
isn't
(he's
not).
wrong: *Yes, he's.
Was Joe here yesterday?
Yes, he was.
No, he
wasn't.
|
| |
|
|
| 3. |
|
The full form for "I
don't
know" is almost
never
used,
but it is "I don't know whether
(or not)
_____
(or not)" or "I
don't know if _____
or not):
Is Joe here today? --->
I don't know whether or not
he's here today. /
I don't know
whether
he's
here today or not. /
I don't know
if he's here today. /
I don't know if
he's here today or not.
Were Alice and Bob in an accident?
--->
I don't know whether or not
they
were in
an accident. / I
don't know whether they
were
in
an accident or not. /
I don't know if the
were in an
accident. / I don't know if they
were in an accident or not.
etc.
|
|
