The interrogative sentences

Interrogative sentences ask for some information. There are 4 types questions in the English language:

General question;

Alternative question;

Disjunctive question;

Special question.

General (Yes/No) question

They ask if the statement is positive or negative and request ……………

Auxiliary verb – Subject – Predicate

Ex: Does she work well? (rise intonation)

NOTE: Yes/No question can be……….

Negative General questions

In negative general question there is a different in word order between the full form and short form.

Ex: Did he not invite you out?

“Not” is used after the subject.

Short form

Ex: Didn’t he invite you out?

“Not” is used with a auxiliary verb or with a link-verb.

We generally ask negative questions:

1. When we are expecting or hoping for the answer “yes”.

Ex: Don’t you remember the holiday we had in Spain? – Yes, I do.

2. When we wish to express surprise, disbelieve or exasperation.

Ex: Can’t you really ride a bicycle. – No, I can’t.

3. When we wish to persuade somebody.

Ex: Won’t you help me?

4. In exclamation with falling intonation.

Ex: Isn’t cold. Isn’t cold here.

5. We use full form in formal questions or when we are request special emphasizes to express anger, surprise and different kind of emotions.

Ex: Have I not ask you again and again to be here on time.

Yes/No short answers

(+) Yes, subject pronoun + auxiliary verb / link-verb

(-) No, subject pronoun + auxiliary verb / link-verb + not

Alternative question

Alternative question mean choice to a number of actions, things and etc.

Conjunction “or” is used here.

[ ] if next word begin consonant

Or

[ ] if next word begin vowel

In indirect word order is used we use a rising intonation before the conjunction “or” and then a falling intonation at the end of sentence.

Ex: Is that ball ↑big or ↓small?

Disjunctive question

Disjunctive questions are short questions. That follow a statement and repeat it’s meaning.

Disjunctive questions are often used in conversation to invite agreement and are translated in Russian with a help of: “не так ли”, “не правда ли”, “да ведь”.

Disjunctive questions consist 2 parts:

1. statement with DIRECT word order;

2. tag question.

auxiliary verb / link-verb + not + subject / personal pronoun

If the statement is affirmative, the tag question is negative. And vice versa.

Ex: He is a student, isn’t he? or He is not a student, is he?

And the statement is generally pronounces with a falling intonation and the tag question with a rising intonation.

Ex: He never ↓smoke, does ↑he?

NOTE 1: “that” and “this”

“this” and “that” are replace by “it”

“these” and “those” are replaced by “they”

This That These Those

It It

Ex: This is expensive, isn’t it?

NOTE 2:The link-verb with the first person singular.

Ex: I’m late, aren’t I? I’m not late, am I?

NOTE 3: Let’s → shall we

Ex: Let’s go to the cinema, shall we?

NOTE 4: (+) (-) (-) (+)

must → needn’t musn’t → may

Ex: I must do my HW, needn’t I?

Special question

Special question may refer to any word of the sentence and they begin with an interrogative word:

- who

- what

- which

- when

- what time

- where

- what kind of

- why

- whose

- whom

- how many/much

- how long

- how far.

Inverted word order for information.

question – auxiliary verb – subject – predicate word – secondary part order

Ex: Why do you cry? What kind of books do you like? What* country do you come from?

* If a question is asked to an attribute you should put question “what” before the nouns they refer to. And this nouns should be used without any article.

Ex: Which house do you live in?

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1975