YES / NO QUESTIONSYES / NO QUESTIONS

Pamela Sue RohringEDD 537 – Language Theories and Strategies II

February 22, 2001

Yes / No QuestionsYes / No Questions

Yes / No questions can be answered simply by yes or no, although more complex answers can be given. Yes / No questions can be divided into three basic types.

The first question type corresponds to a The first question type corresponds to a declarative sentence in which the subject declarative sentence in which the subject and the auxiliary verb are inverted.and the auxiliary verb are inverted.

The girl will read a book.

invert subject and auxiliary subject

verb phrase objectsubject

auxiliary

Declarative sentences

The girl will read a book.

The girl will read a book.

will The girl read a book. change capitalization

Will the girl read a book add proper punctuation ?

QUESTION FORM:

Will the girl read a book?

The second type corresponds to a The second type corresponds to a declarative sentence without an declarative sentence without an auxiliary verb.auxiliary verb.

Declarative Sentence

The students watched the movie.

The students watched the movie.subject past tense

WITHOUT AN AUXILIARY VERB

Add a form of “do”

I do we doyou do you dohe, she, it does they do

The student watched the movie.they do

s

The auxiliary verb shows tense.The auxiliary verb shows tense.

You need a form of “do” in the pastSingular Plural

I did we did

you did you did

he, she, it did they did

The main verb must return to present form.

The students did watched the movie.

The student did watch the movie.

The students did watch the movie.subject auxiliary Then invert

subject and auxiliary

did The students watch the movie. change capitalization

Did the student watch the movie. add proper punctuation?

QUESTION FORM:

Did the students watch the movie?

TAG QUESTIONSTAG QUESTIONS

Tag questions are the third type of yes/no questions. These consist of a declarative sentence followed by a question tag. The question tag consists of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun form of the subject.

DECLARATIVEDECLARATIVE SENTENCE SENTENCEJudy is leaving now, isn’t she?

Judy is leaving now, isn’t she?subject

is she (Judy) leaving now?

Is she (Judy) leaving now?

Is she leaving now?

QUESTION FORM:

Is she leaving now?

Judy