yes /no questions; short answers; question words; question tags; agreeing
CONTEXT LISTENING
You are going to hear a telephone conversation between Mina and her father. Before you listen, look at the picture. Why do you think her father is phoning?
Listen and check if you were right.
Listen again and answer these questions.
What did Mina forget to do? charge her phone
How many times did her father text Mina and get no answer?
What had Mina promised to do?
How do Mina’s parents feel when she’s away at college?
What’s happening at the weekend?
Where will they meet?
What are Mina and her father looking forward to?
Listen again and write down the question for each of these replies. Then highlight the verbs in the questions and the replies.
Have you charged your phone at last? Yes, I have.
___________________________ No, I haven’t.
___________________________ Yes, I did.
___________________________ Yes, of course I do.
___________________________ Don’t worry, I will.
___________________________ Yes, I can.
___________________________ Yes, it does.
___________________________ No, she doesn’t.
___________________________ Oh yes, let’s.
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GRAMMAR
Making yes/no questions
To make questions which can be answered with yes or no:
we put the auxiliary verb before its subject:
You’re going on holiday soon.
➞ Are you going on holiday soon?
He’s packed his case.
➞ Has he packed his case?
in the present simple or past simple, we use the auxiliary verb do/does or did to make the question:
I like Italy.
➞ Do you like Italy?
She prefers Greece.
➞ Does she prefer Greece? (not Does she prefers)
They went to Corsica.
➞ Did they go to Corsica?
with the verb to be, we put to be before the subject:
They’re in Madrid today.
➞ Are they in Madrid today?
with modal verbs, we put the modal verb before the subject:
We can stay here.
➞ Can we stay here?
Negative questions often express surprise:
Don’t they like big cities? (= I thought they liked big cities. Am I wrong?)
Can’t she stay here? (= I thought she could stay here. Is that impossible?)
Short answers for yes/no questions
We answer a yes/no question using the same auxiliary or modal verb as in the question:
Is she staying in Spain? Yes, she is. / No, she isn’t.
Have you been to New York? Yes, I have / No, I haven’t.
Are you going to Greece? Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.
Did they like the hotel? Yes, they did. / No, they didn’t.
Can we book our flight online? Yes, we can. / No, we can’t.
Should I contact the police? Yes, you should. / No, you shouldn’t.
Making questions with question words
When we use What, Which or Who to make questions about the subject of the verb, we do not change the word order (unlike yes/no questions):
The pool looks too small.
➞ What looks too small? (Answer: The pool.)
This hotel offers the best view.
➞ Which hotel offers the best view? (Answer: This hotel.)
In a subject question, who is always followed by a singular verb:
Who is coming to your party? (not Who are coming?)
unless two or more people are actually mentioned in the question:
Who are your favourite singers?
When we use What, Which or Who to make questions about the object of the verb, we change the word order (as in yes/no questions).
This hotel offers the best view.
➞What does this hotel offer?
Compare these subject and object questions:
Molly’s visiting Shirin ➞ Who’s visiting Shirin? Molly.
(Who = subject)
Molly’s visiting Shirin ➞ Who’s Molly visiting? Shirin.
(Who = object)
When we use other question words (When, Why, How, etc.) we change the word order in the same way as in yes/no questions:
They’ll be in Madrid tomorrow.
➞ When will they be in Madrid? (Answer: Tomorrow.)
We can’t stay here because it’s full.
➞ Why can’t we stay here? (Answer: Because it’s full.)
She prefers to travel by train.
➞ How does she prefer to travel? (Answer: By train.)
Remember the difference between these questions with like:
What does Molly like? (= what does she enjoy?)
She likes dancing.
What does Molly look like? (= tell me about her appearance)
She’s pretty.
What is Molly like? (= tell me about her character and/or appearance)
She’s intelligent and pretty.
Question tags
We often make a statement into a question by adding a question tag at the end.
It’s a lovely day today, isn’t it?
The verb in the tag must match the form of the auxiliary verb in the statement
If the statement is positive, the tag is negative:
They’re going to Greece, aren’t they?
(the speaker expects the answer yes)
We make question tags:
with do/does or did for all verbs in the present simple or past simple except to be:
You like the seaside, don’t you?
Molly prefers Greece, doesn’t she?
Your friends are in Madrid, aren’t they?
You don’t like the seaside, do you?
Molly doesn‘t prefer Greece, does she?
Your friends aren’t in Madrid now, are they?
with the same auxiliary or modal as in the statement for verbs in other tenses
They haven’t arrived yet, have they?
We can stay here, can’t we?
I am
The question tag for I am is aren’t I?:
I’m doing the right exercise, aren’t I?
The question tag for I’m not is am I?:
I’m not in the right place, am I?
Let's
The question tag for let’s is shall we?:
Let’s go to France, shall we?
Using Question Tags
We use question tags:
to check that what we have just said is true – our voice does not rise at the end:
They’re going to Greece, aren’t they?
(= I’m almost certain they’re going there, but will you confirm this?)
to ask for information – our voice rises at the end:
They’re going to Greece, aren’t they?
(= I’m not sure if that’s where they’re going – will you tell me?)
Agreeing with statements
To agree with statements we use so for positive statements and neither or nor for negative statements, and we put the verb before its subject.
We can do this:
with the verb to be
He was really angry. So was I.
with a modal
He can’t speak French. Nor can we.
with an auxiliary verb:
I went to Spain last year. So did they.
I don’t want to have a fight about it. Neither do I.
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