TYPE OF QUESTION Part 1: YES/ NO QUESTIONS Definition A yes-no question is a question for which an answer of yes or no is acceptable.

Yes/no questions are asked using be, have, do, or a modal verb. Yes/no questions always begin with one of these verbs and can be answered with a simple yes or no, or with the question repeated as a statement. Note: It's impossible to ask a yes/no question without one of these auxiliary verbs. He want a car? Does he want a car?

You going to eat with us? Are you going to eat with us?

BE Use the verb be to ask about identity, description, location, and present or past activities and situations. Identity / Description You can use be plus a noun or adjective to ask about the identity or description of a person, place, or thing. Am I your best friend? Is this interesting? Yes (you are). No (it is not).

Are these islands part of Greece? Yes (they are). Was his idea good? Were they happy? No (it wasn't). Yes (they were).

Subject and verb change their position in statement and question. statement question You are from Germany. Are you from Germany?

We always use the short answer, not only "Yes" or "No". NOTE: If the answer is "Yes", we always use the long form. Example: Yes, I am. If the answer is "No", we either use the long or the contrated form (short form). Example: No, I am not - No, I'm not. Yes, Are Is Are you he Peter and John from Germany? your friend? from England? No, Yes, Yes, I I he they am. am not. 'm not. is. are.

Location Be plus a prepositional phrase asks about present or past location. Am I near your house? Is he in Panam? Are we at the border yet? Was his apartment above a bakery? No (you aren't). Yes (he is). No (we're not). Yes (it was).

Were the demonstrations downtown? No (they weren't).

Current activity / situation To ask about a current activity or situation, use the present progressive: present tense of be + present participle (verb+ing). Am I going with you and Tom? Yes (you are). Is England adopting the euro? No (it isn't). Are we seeing a play tonight? Is she working today? Yes (we are). No (she isn't).

Past activity / situation To ask about a past activity or situation, use the past progressive: past tense of be + present participle. Was it raining? Was Anna cooking? Yes (it was). No (she wasn't).

Were the prisoners rebelling? Yes (they were). Were they singing? No (they weren't).

Past event To ask about something that happened to someone or something, use the passive voice: past tense of be + past participle (verb + ed or en): Was he given a reward? Was I chosen? Were you driven home in a taxi? Yes (he was). No (you weren't). Yes (we were).

Were dinosaurs killed by meteors? No (they weren't).

HAVE Use the verb have to ask if some action has taken place or whether somebody has done something. Notice that the auxiliary verb have is in the present tense* and the main verb is always a past participle. Has your brother left? No (he hasn't).

Have you flown before? Yes (I have). Has the party started? Yes (it has).

Have the guests eaten? No (they haven't). *It is possible to ask a yes/no question with had, but this is done in very specific situations and will be explained in a future lesson

DO Use the verb do to obtain facts about people, places, or things. Do is always followed by the subject and then a verb in the infinitive without to. Do they smoke? Does Bogot get cold? Did it work? Do flying fish really fly? No (they don't). Yes (it does). No (it didn't). No (they don't).

Does running hurt your knees? Yes (it does). Did teaching challenge you? Yes (it did).

MODALS Use modal verbs to obtain more information about possibilities or uncertainties. Modals are always followed by verbs in the infinitive without to. Can we stay? Could this be true? Should they stop? May I help you? Will it rain? Yes (we can stay). Yes (it could be true). No (they shouldn't). Yes (you may). No (it won't rain).

Would you go with me? Yes (I would).

Remember: When asking a question with do or a modal verb, the main verb remains in the infinitive without to. Incorrect Do you to drink coffee? Correct Do you drink coffee?

Does she to work here? Does she work here? Can I to go with you? Can I go with you?

Should we to email her? Should we email her?

However, if there are two verbs in the infinitive after do, the second infinitive must use to. Incorrect Correct

Do you want drink coffee? Do you want to drink coffee? Does she like work here? Does she like to work here? Did you need go home? Did you need to go home?

Remember: It's impossible to ask a yes/no question without an auxiliary verb. He know your phone number? Does he know your phone number? They returning today? Are they returning today?

Note that there are several ways to answer yes/no questions, especially with contractions. Is he busy? No. No, he isn't. No, he's not. No, he is not. No, he isn't busy. No, he's not busy. No, he is not busy.

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 verb to be: Examples:

They are American. Are they American? They are nice. Are they nice?

2.If the sentence includes a main verb and another or other helping (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 been working all night long?

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

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 base form:

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 read a 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 discovered the truth. Did he discover the truth?

Examples of Weak and Strong Answers to Yes/No Questions The following shows various ways, both good and not so good, to answer a 'Yes/No' question. Question: Do you like your job?

Answer a: No. Answer b: No, I don't.

Answer c: No. It's too stressful, the working hours are too long about ten hours a day and the pay's much too low. I really want to find a better job. Answer d: No, I don't. It's too stressful, the working hours are too long about ten hours a day and the pay's much too low. I really want to find a better job. Answer e: No, I don't, to tell you the truth. There's virtually nothing I like about it. For example, it's too stressful, the working hours are too long about ten hours a day and the pay's much too low. So, as you can imagine, I really want to find a better job. These answers improve as you go from Answer a to Answer e. Answer b adequately answers the basic question (yes or no) but gives no extra detail. Answer c gives adequate extra detail but uses only 'No' to answer the basic question. For most of you reading this page, Answer d is a good enough model to aim for but Answer e, a Band 8/9 level reply, is even better!

Example of yes or no question i. ii. iii. iv. v. Do you think you are beautiful? Do you like school? Do you think its hard to sleep at night? Are you married? Do you want to come?

Part 2: INFROMATION QUESTION-WH QUESTION WORDS

Question words are also called wh questions because they include the letters 'W' and 'H'. We use question words to ask certain types of questions (question word questions). We often refer to them as WH words because they include the letters WH (for example WHy, HoW).

Question words Who where person place reason

Meaning

Examples

Who's that? That's Nancy. Where do you live? In Boston Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early

Why

When

time

When do you go to work? At 7:00

How What which whose Whom

manner object, idea or action choice possession object of the verb description

How do you go? By car What do you do? I am an engineer Which one do you prefer? The red one. Whose is this book? It's Alan's. Whom did you meet? I met the manager. What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs

what kind

what time

time quantity (countable)

What time did you come home? How many students are there? There are twenty.

how many

how much

amount, price (uncountable) duration, length

How much time have we got? Ten minutes How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks.

how long

how often

frequency

How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week.

how far how old how come

distance age reason

How far is your school? It's one mile far. How old are you? I'm 16. How come I didn't see at the party?

Asking questions 1.If you ask about the subject of the sentence, simply add the question word at the beginning: Example: James writes good poems. Who writes good pems? 2.If you ask about the predicate of the sentence (the part of a sentence which contains the verb and gives information about the subject), there are three options:

If there is a helping (auxilary) verb that precedes the main verb ( foe example, can, is, are, was, were, will, would...), add the question word and invert the subject and the helping (auxilary) verb. Examples: He can speak Chinese. What can he speak? They are leaving tonight. When are they leaving?

If you ask about the predicate and there is no helping (auxilary) verb and the verb is "to be", simply add the question verb and invert the subject and the verb. Example: The play was interesting. How was the play?

If there is no helping (auxilary) verb in the the predicate and the main verb is not "to be", add the auxilary "do" in the appropriate form. Examples: They go to the movies every Saturday. Where do they go to the movies? He wakes up early. When does he wake up? They sent a letter. What did they send?

STRUCTURE WH questions in simple present use do or be:

WH Questions with "do"

WH + DO/DOES + SUBJECT

+ VERB

Examples:

Where do you work? Where does she live? When do you wake up?

WH Questions with "be"

WH + BE

SUBJECT

Examples:

Where are you from? Who is that man? When is your class?

WH Questions are similar to YES/NO questions except they have WH words at the start.

Examples:

Are you from Canada? Where are you from?

Here are some example questions and answers:

Where are you from? I am from Japan.

What is your name? My name is Jacob.

When do you wake up? I wake up at 7:30 am.

Why are you angry? I am angry because I did not pass my exam.

Example of WH question i. ii. iii. iv. v. What is that? When is the game? Who do you live with? Where do you live? How are you?

Part 3: TAG QUESTIONS

Question tags are the short questions that we put on the end of sentences particularly in spoken English. There are lots of different question tags but the rules are not difficult to learn. A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. The whole sentence is a "tag question", and the mini-question at the end is called a "question tag". A "tag" is something small that we add to something larger. For example, the little piece 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 mean something like: "Am I right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very common in English.

Form positive statement ->question tag negative - You are Tom, aren't you? negative statement->question tag positive - He isn't Joe, is he?

Examples with auxiliaries You've got a car, haven't you? without auxiliaries (use: don't, doesn't, didn't) They play football on Sundays, don't they? She plays football on Sundays, doesn't she? They played football on Sundays, didn't they? Questions tags are used to keep a conversation going. You can agree or refuse to a sentence with a question tag. You go to school, don't you? You agree. Yes, I do. You refuse. No, I don't.

You aren't from Germany, are you? You agree. No, I'm not. You refuse. Yes, I am.

Questions tags - Special Although the negative word not is not in the sentence, the sentence can be negative. Then we use the "positive" question tag. He never goes out with his dog, does he?

have is a main verb in the sentence -> two possibilities We have a car, _____? We have a car, haven't we? mostly British English We have a car, don't we? mostly American English

We use will/would with the imperative (Simple Present). Open the window, will you? Open the window, would you?

Don't open your books, will you?

We use won't with a polite request.

Open the window, won't you?

We use shall after Let's. Let's take the next bus, shall we?

Auxiliary must We must be at home at 8 pm, mustn't we? Yes, we must. No, we needn't.

Procedure adding a question tag Look at the sentence. 1 Is an auxiliary or a form of to be in the sentence? yes no affirmative sentence -> Negate sentence (e.g. don't; doesn't; didn't)

auxiliary or form of to be affirmative -> negate auxiliary (add n't)

auxiliary or form of to be negative -> (delete n't)

negative sentence -> (delete n't)

Is a personal pronoun the subject of the sentence?

yes Use the personal pronoun. 3 Complete the sentence.

no Form the personal pronoun.

Example 1: He can play football, ________. 1 Is an auxiliary or a form of to be in the sentence? yes -> can auxiliary or form of to be affirmative -> negate auxiliary (add n't)

can't 2 Is a personal pronoun the subject of the sentence? yes Use the personal pronoun. 3 He can play football, can't he?

Example 2: Peter can play football, ________. 1 Is an auxiliary or a form of to be in the sentence?

yes -> can auxiliary or form of to be affirmative -> negate auxiliary (add n't)

can't 2 Is a personal pronoun the subject of the sentence? no Form the personal pronoun. Peter -> he 3 Peter can play football, can't he?

Example 3: Peter plays football, ________. 1 Is an auxiliary or a form of to be in the sentence? no affirmative sentence -> Negate the verb.

verb plays -> Negation: doesn't play

We only use the auxiliary doesn't. 2 Is a personal pronoun the subject of the sentence?

no Form the personal pronoun. Peter -> he 3 Peter plays football, doesn't he?

Example of question tag i. ii. iii. iv. v. Let's go shopping, shall we? Help your dad in the garage, will you? Mum cooks fantastic meals, doesn't she? The twins are very nice, aren't they? Football is great, isn't it?