Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
________________________________________
Do
________________________________________
Does
________________________________________
Did
She quit her job. ---> Did she quit her job?
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Answering Simple Questions:
Sentences without BE and
without Auxiliary Verbs
Examples:
I don't know.
No.
I don't know.
Yes, he did.
Yes.
No, he didn't.
No.
I don't know.
etc.
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Special Notes:
1. The common verbs do and have can be both
main verbs and auxiliary verbs:
Yes, he does.
No, he doesn't.
Yes, I do.
No, I don't.
wrong:
*Does she wants something?
right:
*Does she want something?
wrong:
*Does he has a new car?
right:
*Does he have a new car?
4. When did is the auxiliary verb, the main
verb is in simple form, not past:
wrong:
*Did she wanted something?
right:
*Did she want something?
wrong:
*Did they had a good time?
right:
*Did they have a good time?
wrong:
*Does she is here today?
wrong:
*Did she was here yesterday?
wrong:
*Did she already been here?
etc.
Sub-navigation
Yes/No questions with to be
Yes No questions are questions that do not take a question word such as 'what', 'when', 'where',
etc. Yes No questions are used to check information, ask for a confirmation and check facts.
Here are some examples:
Yes No questions are generally answered with Yes No answers that include an auxiliary verb.
Here are some examples:
Notice that Yes answers include the subject and the full auxiliary verb:
No answers include the auxiliary verb plus not and often employs the short form (contraction):
Yes, I do.
No, I don't.
Yes, he / she / it does.
No, he / she / it doesn't.
Yes, we / you / they do.
No, we / you / they don't.
Present Continuous
Yes, I am.
No, I'm not.
Yes, he / she / it is.
No, he / she / it isn't.
Yes, we / you / they are.
No, we / you / they aren't.
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Present Perfect
Yes, I have.
No, I haven't.
Yes, he / she / it has.
No, he / she / it hasn't.
Yes, we / you / they have.
No, we / you / they haven't.
Past Simple
Past Continuous
Was / Were + S + Verb + ing? - (Were they working at three in the afternoon?)
Yes, I was.
No, I wasn't.
Yes, he / she / it was.
No, he / she / it wasn't.
Yes, we / you / they were.
No, we / you / they weren't.
Future Simple
Yes, I am.
No, I'm not.
Yes, he / she / it is.
No, he / she / it isn't.
Yes, we / you / they are.
No, we / you / they aren't.
Short answers
Exercises - Questions
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 contracted form (short form).
Example: No, I am not - No, I'm not.
Yes, I am.
Are you from Germany?
am not.
No, I
'm not.
Questions that need either a yes or a no answer are called yes-no questions:
We form yes-no questions with an auxiliary verb (be, do or have) + subject + main verb or with a
modal verb + subject + main verb:
Where there is no auxiliary verb be, have or modal verb already present in the statement, we use
the auxiliary do, does, did:
Warning:
When there is more than one auxiliary verb or a modal verb plus auxiliary verb(s), we only put
the first auxiliary or the modal verb before the subject and the others after the subject:
Not: Is being this phone call recorded? or Is being recorded this phone call?
Has the garden been looked after while you were away?
Not: Has been the garden looked after while you were away? or Has been looked after the garden
while you were away?
Modal + subject + auxiliary + auxiliary + verb
We only put auxiliary and modal verbs, not main verbs, before the subject:
See also:
Be
Have
When we ask yes-no questions using the main verb be, we don’t use an auxiliary verb. The word
order is: be + subject:
Was she angry when you told her about the accident?
When we ask yes-no questions with the main verb have, we can also use the word order verb +
subject, but it sounds rather formal. We use have got and do as more neutral or informal
alternatives:
Warning:
When we ask questions with the main verb have in the past to refer to possession, we use did …
have rather than had … got:
Did you have your glasses with you when you left the car?
Had you got your glasses with you when you left the car? (less common)
Responding to yes-no questions
Other ways of saying yes and no include yeah, yep, mm, okay, and nah, nope. These are
informal:
A:
B:
A:
B:
We can also give more than just a yes or no answer. We sometimes add more information:
A:
B:
A:
B:
Sometimes we don’t use yes or no as a reply but the answer that we give means yes or no:
A:
We’ve known each other for years. We went to the same school. (meaning yes)
A:
B:
I’m afraid we’ve just sold the last one! (meaning no)
We sometimes respond using the auxiliary verb from the question instead of yes and no:
A:
B:
A:
B:
Isn’t that Pauline’s car? (I’m pretty sure that this is correct. I’m asking for confirmation.)
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 sounds very formal:
Warning:
When using the full form not, the order auxiliary + subject (s) + not is more common than
auxiliary + not + subject:
[AUX][s]Is that [not]not the oldest building in this street? (formal) (preferred to [the very
formal] Is not that the oldest building on this street?)
We can use negative yes-no questions to make invitations, offers and complaints stronger:
Won’t you stay for dinner? (invitation; stronger than Will you stay for dinner?)
Wouldn’t you like another coffee? (offer; stronger than Would you like another coffee?)
Can’t the manager do something about the noise? (complaint; stronger than Can the manager do
something about the noise?)
We often use fall-rising intonation with yes-no questions when asking a number of questions
together:
A:
B:
A:
B:
Yeah, we are.
A:
Is it exp↘ensi↗ve? [Question 3]
B:
It’s not very expensive for somewhere so near the city centre.
See also:
Intonation
(“Questions: yes-no questions ( Are you feeling cold? )” from English Grammar Today © Cambridge
University Press. Need grammar practice? Try English Grammar Today with Workbook.)
Yes or No Questions
Types of questions
Yes or no questions
Wh questions
Yes-no questions
Yes or no questions are questions whose expected answer is either "yes" or "no".
In English, a special word order (Verb Subject Object) is used to form yes-no questions.
Examples:
The rules
1. If the main verb of the sentence is "to be", simply invert the subject and the verb to be:
Examples:
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:
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 they 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:
Grammar
Use the verb BE to ask Yes / No questions about the identity or description of a person, place, or
thing.
question response
Am I your friend? Yes. / Yes, you are. / Yes, you are my friend.
Is this a good restaurant? No. / No, it is not. / No, it is not a good restaurant.
Are these islands Greek? Yes. / Yes, they are. / Yes, these islands are Greek.
Was his idea interesting? No. / No, it wasn’t. / No, his idea was not interesting.
Were they happy? Yes. / Yes, they were. / Yes, they were happy.
Note that the response can be short (Yes. / No.), or long: Yes or No followed by the subject and
verb.
Use the verb BE with a preposition to ask Yes / No questions about a present or past location.
question response
Am I at the correct location? No. / No, you aren’t.
Are the keys under the books? No. / No, they are not.
Was his house on an island? Yes. / Yes, it was.
Were the demonstrations in the center of town? No. / No, they weren’t.
Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question about a current activity or situation. This requires the
present progressive: BE + (verb+ing).
question response
Am I going with you and Tom? Yes. / Yes, you are.
Is she working today? No. / No, she isn’t.
Are we seeing a play tomorrow? Yes. / Yes, we are.
Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question about a past activity or situation. This requires the past
progressive: WAS / WERE + (verb+ing).
question response
Was it raining? Yes. / Yes, it was.
Were they playing? No. / No, they weren’t.
Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question with the passive voice.
question response
Is gold mined in Canada? Yes. / Yes it is.
Are flowers grown here? No. / No, they are not.
Was the book read? Yes. / Yes, it was.
Use 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).
question response
Has your brother left? No. / No, he hasn’t.
Have you driven before? Yes. / Yes, I have.
Has the party started? Yes. / Yes, it has.
Use the verb DO to ask Yes / No questions in order to obtain facts about people, places, or things.
question response
Do they smoke? No. / No, they don’t.
Does it rain here? Yes. / Yes, it does.
Did the key work? No. / No, it didn’t.
question response
Can we stay? Yes. / Yes, we can. / Yes, we can stay.
Could this be true? Yes. / Yes, it could (be true).
Should they stop? No. / No, they shouldn’t (stop).
May I help you? Yes. / Yes you may (help me).
Remember: When asking Yes / No questions with DO or a modal verb, the main verb remains in the
base form (without to).
correct incorrect
Do you drink coffee? Do you to drink coffee?
Does she work here? Does she to work here?
Can I go with you? Can I to go with you?
Should we email her? Should we to email her?
However, if there are two verbs that follow DO, the second verb remains in the infinitive (with to).
correct incorrect
Do you want to drink coffee? Do you want drink coffee?
Does she like to work here? Does she like work here?
Did you need to go home? Did you need go home?
Note that there are several ways to answer Yes / No questions, especially when using contractions.
question response
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.