yes/no question
yes/no questions
- is a question that may be answered by yes or no -also called closed questions because there are only two possible responses -must include one of these verbs: BE, DO, HAVE, OR MODEL VERB (can, could, will, would, should, shall, may, must, might)
use of modals
- to ask questions about possibilities or uncertainties ex. can we stay> ex. could this be true?
uses of negative yes/ no questions
-can use it to make invitations, offers and complaints stronger ex. won't you stay for dinner? (will you stay for dinner?)
use of the verb have
-to ask if somebody has done something or if some action has taken place. Note that these yes/no questions use the present perfect (have + past participle) ex. has your brother left?
use of the verb to be
-to ask yes/ no questions about the identity or description of a person, place, or thing ex. is this restaurant good? -to ask about a current activity or situation. This requires the present progressive: Be+ verb+ing ex. is she working today? -to ask about a past activity or situation. This requires past progressive: was/were + verb +ing ex. was it raining yesterday night?
use of the verb do
-to obtain facts about people, places, things ex. do they smoke?
yes/ no negative
-usually use negative to check or confirm something we believe or expect to be the case, or when we consider that something is the best thing to do ex. isnt that paulines car? -we form negative yes no questions with not. We usually use the contraction n't. If we use not in its full form, the question sound very formal ex. Isn't that the oldest building on this street?
yes no negative warning
-when using the full form not, the order auxiliary +subject +not is more common than aux + not +subject ex. is that not the oldest building in this street? (formal) ex. is not that the oldest building on this street? (very formal)
yes/ no form
auxiliary (be, do, or have) + subject + main verb or with a modal very +subject +main very ex. is she working very hard?
remember
when asking yes no questions with do or a modal verb, the main verb remains in the base form (without to) ex. do you drink coffee? ex. does she work here?
more than one auxiliary
when there is more than one auxiliary verb or a model verb plus auxiliary verbs, we only put the first aux or the model verb before the subject and the others after the subject ex. is this phone call being recorded? ex. has the garden been looked after while you were away? ex. should we have been writing this down?
no auxiliary
where there is no auxiliary verb be, have, or modal verb already present in the statement, we use the auxiliary do, does, did ex. statement form (no auxiliary you usually walk to work Question form: do you usually walk to work -we don't use an auxiliary verb when we use be as a main verb ex. is she your sister?