Negative general questions.
These questions express astonishment or doubt. In Russian the particles разве, неужели are used in such questions. They are formed by placing an auxiliary, modal or link verb + the particle not before the subject.
Aren’t you Carmen’s sister?
Hasn’t he told you yet?
Don’t you spend the summer in the country?
2. Special questions (Wh – questions) begin with an interrogative word. They are spoken with a falling intonation.
a. The order of words is the same as in general questions, but the interrogative word precedes the auxiliary verb. (Wh-word + auxiliary + subject + main verb (notional verb).
Where do they live? Why are they laughing?
b. When special questions contain prepositions they are placedat the end of the sentence except a very formal writing and the speech where “whom” is used after the preposition:
Who did you buy these flowers for?
For whom did you buy these flowers? (very formal)
What are you talking about?
Who did you buy the tickets from?
c. When the interrogative word (who, what) is the subject of the sentence or an attribute to the subject, the order of words is that of a statement, no inversion is used.
Who phoned ?(‘Who’ is the subject)
Who did you phone?(‘Who’ is the object)
What happened? (‘What’ is the subject)
What did she say? (’What” is the object)
Who knows the answer?
Which costs more – the blue one or the grey one?
d. When the interrogative word (which, whose) is an attribute to the subject, the order of words is
Wh-word + noun + main verb:
Which type of battery lastslonger?
Whose pen is on the table?
3. Alternative questions indicate choice. They are spoken with a rising intonation in the first part and a falling intonation in the second part.
There are two types of alternative questions.
One type is like a general question:
Do you live in the town or in the country?
Is it your CD or is it mine?
Are they in or are they out?
The other is like a special question:
What do you want to do this weekend, stay at home or go to the cinema?
4.Disjunctive questions (Tag questions) require the answer “yes” or “no”.
They consist of an affirmative statement followed by a negative question (positive answer is expected), or a negative statement followed by an affirmative question (negative answer is expected). They correspond to such Russian questions as «Не так ли? Не правда ли? Ведь так?»
The first part of these questions is spoken with a falling intonation and the second part is spoken with a falling intonation if the speaker is sure that his information is correct. The second part can also be spoken with a rising intonation if the speaker is not very sure if the information is correct or not.
You knew that before, didn’t you? – Yes, I did.
You are not tired, are you? – No, I am not.
There is a piano in the hall, isn’t there?
I’m right, aren’t I? (the short form in the singular is not used here)
I’m not your boss, am I? (a politically correct question)
Everybody is her, aren’t they? (a politically correct question)
There is one more pattern with a tag question which is less frequently used (mostly when the speaker comes to a conclusion about some event):
Positive statement + positive tag
You knew about it before, did you?
Negative statement + negative tag
You didn’t know about it before, didn’t you?
5.There are some other types of questions in spoken English.
a) Indeclarative questionswe do not always use ‘interrogative’ word order:
You’re working late tonight?
These questions are used when the speaker thinks he/she knows or has understood smth, but wants to make sure or express surprise. A rising intonation is common.
This is your car? (= I suppose this is your car, isn’t it?)
That’s the boss? I thought he was the cleaner.
b) Rhetorical questions do not expect an answer. We use them as a way of drawing attention to something.
Do you know what time it is? (= You are late.)
Who’s a lovely baby? (= You’re a lovely baby)
What’s the use of asking her? (=There’s no use asking her)
c) Why/How should …?Can be used aggressively to reject suggestions, requests and instructions.
Ann’s very unhappy. ~ Why should I care?
What time does the film start? ~ How should I know?
EXERCISES