YES/NO QUESTION
The Cartoon below shows something basic about English questions – they have unique intonation patterns. Intonation is simply the rising and falling of pitchOpens in new window over a spoken sentence. The girl in the cartoon, Zuma, is describing an event using statements, which normally end in falling pitch. But she applies rising pitch to the end of her statements, which is what two boys notice and are whispering about in the last panel while poking fun at Zuma by mimicking her.
- Lesson Illustration | Credit Ron Cowan
Introduction
A Yes/No Question is a question whose expected answer is either a “yes” or “no.” Therefore, Yes/No Questions may be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”.
Because intonation is so important in forming questions in English, some example questions in this literature are accompanied by diagrams that show their intonation patterns. The diagram is a line that traces the pitch movement throughout the question. Speakers differ in the amount of up or down change they apply, thus the direction of the line is more important than the amount of change that occurs from one pitch level to another. The predominant intonation patterns for the questions in this literature series are also described using the terms rise and fall to indicate the pitch direction. For example, the “yes/no” question intonation that Zuma uses is called rising. The pitch moves up on the last word and then continues to rise beyond the stressed syllable. The rising intonation pattern applied to what Zuma says in the first panel of the cartoon is shown in (1).
If a declarative sentenceOpens in new window contains an auxiliary verbOpens in new window such as have or be, a modal auxiliaryOpens in new windowlike may or could, or the copular form of be, a yes/no question is created from the sentenceOpens in new window by applying the rule of subject-auxiliary (or subject-aux) inversion.
Subject-auxiliary inversion switches the position of the subject and the verbal element that follows it.
The sentences labeled “b” in 2) through 7) are yes/no questions that result from the application of subject-aux inversion to the declarative sentences labeled “a”.
Notice that in each case, the position of the verbal element that follows it have been reversed to create a question. The labels on the right describe the verb in boldface in each sentence.
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Copular “be”
Copular “be” 2a). He is a policeman.
2b). Is he a policeman?
Modal “could” + verb
Modal “could” + verb 3a). She could do it.
3b). Could she do it?
Aux “is” + verb (present participle)
Aux “is” + verb (present participle) 4a). She is sleeping right now.
4b). Is she sleeping right now?
Aux “has” + verb (past participle)
Aux “has” + verb (past participle) 5a). The boss has read the report.
5b). Has the boss read the report?
Modal “should” + aux “have” + verb (past participle)
Modal “should” + aux “have” + verb (past participle) 6a). He should have read the report.
6b). Should he have read the report?
Modal “could” + aux “have” + aux “been” + verb (present participle)
Modal “could” + aux “have” + aux “been” + verb (present participle) 7a). She could have been working then.
7b). Could she have been working then?
For declarative sentencesOpens in new window that do not have an auxiliary verbOpens in new window, a modalOpens in new window, or copular be, the rule of subject-aux inversion is not applied to form a yes/no question. Instead, an appropriate form of the auxiliary verb do is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
This process of adding do to a sentence is referred to as do insertion or do support. The auxiliary “do” allows the speaker to express tense differences, as 8a) and 8b) illustrate.
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Statement 8a). He runs every day.
8b). He ran every day.
Yes/No Question 8a). Does he run every day?
simple present tense 8b). Did he run every day?
simple past tense
In British English, sentences with the main verb have (not the auxiliary verb have) also undergo subject-aux inversion to form yes/no questions, as shown in 9b). But in American English, do insertion is used instead, as shown in 9c). This is an important difference that learners of English should know.
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Statement 9a) You have a pencil.
subject-aux inversion 9b) Have you a pencil? British English do insertion 9c) Do you have a pencil? American English
“Yes/no” questions carry rising intonation. The diagram in (10) shows that the pitch moves up on the last word of the question, which is stressed on the first syllable, and it continues to rise at the end, a pattern called up-rise intonation.
Positive and Negative Yes/No Questions
Yes/no questions are either positive, as in 11a), or negative (i.e., they contain not), as in 11b).
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a) Are you coming?
b) Aren’t you coming?
Negative “yes/no” questions are formed by contracting the verbal element at the beginning of the question (auxiliary verb, modal verb, or copular “be”) with not. This is illustrated in (12).
Positive a) Have you been here before? b) Will you agree to those terms? c) Were they feeling better? Negative a) Haven’t you been here before? b) Won’t you agree to those terms? c) Weren’t they feeling better?
Positive yes/no questions usually do not imply any expectation about what the answer will be. The person who asks 11a), for instance, does not necessarily have any idea whether the answer will be yes (I am coming) or no (I am not coming).
Negative questions, on the other hand, are generally asked to confirm a specific expectation or assumption on the part of the asker, as in 13).
Susan to Alice: Didn’t John tell you that I was coming?
Susan may ask Alice the negative question in 13) because she assumes, initially, that John would have told Alice that she was coming, and she wants to confirm that John did, in fact, tell her.
If Susan notices that Alice seems surprised when she shows up, her initial assumption may change to something like “It looks like John didn’t tell Alice that I was coming, after all.” She may still, however, ask the same negative question to find out if her new assumption is correct.
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Susan: Didn’t John tell you that I was coming?
Alice: No. He didn’t.
Susan: Well, if he forgot, I’m sorry. I was sure that you would be expecting me.
Thus, regardless of what Susan’s expectations/assumptions are as she meets Alice, she asks a negative question in order to confirm those expectations/assumptions.
Negative yes/no questions can often express annoyance, as in 15a), or disappointment, as in 15b), when it seems that the asker’s previous expectations or hopes have not been met.
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a) Can’t you ever give me a simple answer?
(Implication: I want a simple answer, but apparently you can’t give me one.)b) Haven’t you called him?
(Implication: I really hoped that you had, but it appears that you haven’t.)
Negative questions that contain positive polarity items, like someone, somebody, and already, are posed when the asker expects a positive answer.
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a) Didn’t somebody call me this afternoon?
(Implication: I’ll bet somebody did.)b) Hasn’t he already done that?
(Implication: I think he has Or I was sure that he had.)
A negative answer (no) to either a positive or a negative yes/no question in English has the same meaning. This is shown in 17).
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a) Joel: Can you come to the ceremony?
Rich: No. (= I can’t come.)b) Joel: Can’t you come to the ceremony?
Rich: No. (= I can’t come.)
Notice that an answer of no to both the question in 17a) and the question in 17b) serves to indicate that the person responding will not be able to attend the ceremony.
This is an important point for many English language learners because in some languages (e.g., Japanese, Korean, Hausa), a no answer to a negative question such as 17b) means “No, that is not correct. In fact, I can come.” and a yes answer means “Yes, that is correct – I can’t come.”
Reduced Yes/No Questions
Yes/no questions are often reduced (shortened) in informal conversation. This can be done in two ways, by the formation of elliptical yes/no questions and by the formation of declarative (or statement) yes/no questions.
Elliptical Yes/No Questions
Native speakers sometimes reduce yes/no questions by omitting auxiliary verbs and copular be to form elliptical statements with up-rise intonation.
Declarative Yes/No Questions
Declarative, or Statement yes/no questions have the form of a statement but also contain question intonation. They are often difficult to distinguish from elliptical yes/no questions; notice that 19a) is identical to the corresponding elliptical yes/no question formed by omitting do, whereas 19b) is slightly different , the corresponding elliptical question being “You already talked to him?” The intonation in declarative questions will not always follow the up-rise pattern shown in 19a) exactly, rather it may rise slightly and be maintained over the rest of the utterance, as shown in 19b).
Declarative questions have at least three functions. They are used to:
- check information.
- repeat something someone has said in order to question or confirm it.
- express surprise or amazement.
