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?
- She write a nice essay. Did she write a nice essay?
- They did the homework. Did they do the homework?
H questions (Question Words)
Types of questions
There are two types of questions:
- Yes or no questions
- Wh questions
Question words
Question words are also called wh questions because they include the letters 'W' and 'H'.
| Question words | Meaning | Examples |
| who | person | Who's that? That's Nancy. |
| where | place | Where do you live? In Boston |
| why | reason | Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early |
| when | time | When do you go to work? At 7:00 |
| how | manner | How do you go? By car |
| what | object, idea or action | What do you do? I am an engineer |
| which | choice | Which one do you prefer? The red one. |
| whose | possession | Whose is this book? It's Alan's. |
| whom | object of the verb | Whom did you meet? I met the manager. |
| what kind | description | What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs |
| what time | time | What time did you come home? |
| how many | quantity (countable) | How many students are there? There are twenty. |
| how much | amount, price (uncountable) | How much time have we got? Ten minutes |
| how long | duration, length | How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks. |
| how often | frequency | How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week. |
| how far | distance | How far is your school? It's one mile far. |
| how old | age | How old are you? I'm 16. |
| how come | reason | How come I didn't see at the party? |
Asking questions
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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?
Tag Questions
Definition
A tag question is a grammatical structure. It refers to a declarative statement or an imperative that are modified to become a question by adding an interrogative fragment.
Use
Tag questions:
- can be considered as an indicator of politeness, emphasis, or irony;
- they may suggest confidence or lack of confidence;
- they may be confrontational or tentative;
- in legal settings, tag questions can be found in leading question.
Form
Tag questions vary according to different factors such as the choice of auxiliary, the negation.
The structure is generally as follows:
| Affirmative statement | Negative Tag |
| he likes him | doesn't he? |
| Negative statement | Affirmative Tag |
| she doesn't care about him | does she? |
Examples
Statements
| Affirmative statement | Negative tag |
| He is excellent at languages, | isn't he? |
| You were late, | weren't you? |
| They are working on a new project, | aren't they? |
| She writes good poems, | doesn't she? |
| We have worked hard to earn this money, | haven't we? |
| He called her, | didn't he? |
| You should see a doctor, | shouldn't you? |
| He can drive, | can't he? |
| You will help us, | won't you? |
| Negative statement | Affirmative tag |
| He isn't an athlete, | is he? |
| They weren't early, | were they? |
| You aren't writing a new book, | are you? |
| She doesn't work in a hospital, | does she? |
| He hasn't found the solution, | has he? |
| You didn't visit the museum, | did you? |
| We shouldn't sleep late, | should we? |
| You won't tell her, | will you? |
Imperatives
| Imperative | Tag |
| keep quiet, | won't you? will you? would you? could you? |
Determiners
What are determiners?
A determiner is used to modify a noun. It indicates reference to something specific or something of a particular type. This function is usually performed by articles, demonstratives, possessive determiners, or quantifiers.
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Determiners vs pronouns
Determiners are followed by a noun.
- The man
- This book
- Some people
Subject pronouns (I, you, he, etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) cannot be determiners because they can never be followed by a noun.
Types of determiners
Articles
The definite and indefinite articles are all determiners.
- Definite article - the
- Indefinite article - a or an (a is used before a consonant sound; an is used before a vowel sound.)
Examples:
Close the door, please.
I've got a friend in Canada.
Demonstratives
There are four demonstrative determiners in English and they are: this, that, these and those
Note that demonstrative determiners can also be used as demonstrative pronouns. When they are used as determiners they are followed by the nouns they modify. Compare:
This is my camera. (Demonstrative used as a pronoun, subject of the verb is)
This camera is mine. (Demonstrative used as a determiner modifying the noun camera.)
Possessives
Possessive adjectives- my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their - modify the noun following it in order to show possession.
Possessive determiners are different from possessive pronouns - mine, his, hers, yours, ours, their.
- Possessive pronouns can stand alone and are not followed by nouns.
- Possessive determiners, on the other hand, are followed by nouns.
Compare:
This is my house. (my is a possessive determiner. It is followed by the noun house which it modifies)
Is that car yours? (yours is a possessive pronoun. It is not followed by a noun.)
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are followed by nouns which they modify. Examples of quantifiers include:
some, any, few, little, more, much, many, each, every, both, all, enough, half, little, whole, less etc.
Quantifiers are commonly used before either countable or uncountable nouns.
He knows more people than his wife.
Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Exercise on determiners
Intensifiers
What are intensifiers?
Words which are used to add force to the meaning of verbs, adjectives or other adverbs are called intensifiers.
Examples of intensifiers
These are examples of intensifiers:
- I strongly disagree.
- It's extremely hot in Africa.
- You play soccer very well.
- Do you really mean it.
- It's fairly interesting.
- It's quite calm here.
- He's pretty intelligent.
- These students are rather noisy.
- I so wanted to buy the dress.
- She writes poems too often.
- It's absolutely amazing.
- I am a little angry with her.
Quantifiers
What are quantifiers?
A quantifier is a word or phrase which is used before a noun to indicate the amount or quantity:
'Some', 'many', 'a lot of' and 'a few' are examples of quantifiers.
Quantifiers can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
Examples:
There are some books on the desk
He's got only a few dollars.
How much money have you got?
There is a large quantity of fish in this river.
He's got more friends than his sister.
Examples of quantifiers
With Uncountable Nouns
- much
- a little/little/very little *
- a bit (of)
- a great deal of
- a large amount of
- a large quantity of
With Both
- all
- enough
- more/most
- less/least
- no/none
- not any
- some
- any
- a lot of
- lots of
- plenty of
With Countable Nouns
- many
- a few/few/very few **
- a number (of)
- several
- a large number of
- a great number of
- a majority of
* NOTE
few, very few mean that there is not enough of something.
a few means that there is not a lot of something, but there is enough.
** NOTE
little, very little mean that there is not enough of something.
a little means that there is not a lot of something, but there is enough.
