Yes or No Questions

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Types of questions

There are two types of questions:

• Yes or no questions
• Wh questions

Yes-no questions

Yes or no questions are questions whose expected answer is either "yes" or "no".

How to form yes-no questions

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 they 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 wrote a nice essay. — Did she write a nice essay?
• They did the homework. — Did they do the homework?

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Wh questions (Question Words)

Wh questions (Question Words)

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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 you at the party?

Asking questions

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 poems?
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 (auxiliary) verb that precedes the main verb ( for example: can, is, are, was, were, will, would...), add the question word and invert the subject and the helping (auxiliary) 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 (auxiliary) 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 (auxiliary) verb in the the predicate and the main verb is not "to be", add the auxiliary "do" in the appropriate form.
  Examples:
  They go to the movies every Saturday. — Where do they go every Saturday?
  He wakes up early. — When does he wake up?
  They sent a letter. — What did they send?

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Tag Questions

Tag Questions

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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

wofff

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?

 

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Making and responding to suggestions

Making and responding to suggestions

Suggestions

The following English phrases and expressions are all used to make suggestions and give advice to people.

Making suggestions:

• Let’s revise our lessons.
• What about going to the cinema tonight?
• How about playing cards?
• Why don't we do our homework?
• Couldn't we invite your grandmother to our party?
• Shall we have a walk along the river?
• What would you say to a cup of coffee?
• Don't you think it is a good idea to watch TV?
• Does it matter if we use your car?

Accepting suggestions:

• Ok. Yes, let's.
• Yes, I'd like to.
• Yes, I'd love to.
• What a good idea!
• Why not?
• Yes, with pleasure.
• Yes, I feel like taking a walk.
• That sounds like a good idea.  

Refusing suggestions:

• No, let's not.
• No, I'd rather not.
• I don't feel like it.
• I dislike going for a walk.
• What an awful / bad idea!

Things to remember about suggestions:

1.The verb "suggest" can be followed by either:

• should + verb = I suggest (that) we should go to the theater.
• a verb (in the subjunctive form)= I suggest (that) we go to the movies.

2."That" is optional:

• "I suggest that we should visit Paris."
• "I suggest we should visit Paris."

Dialogue:

Two friends talking about where to go this evening:

Alice:	You know Alan, why don't we go to the cinema to watch Titanic?
Alan:	No, let's not. We've seen the film many times before. What about going to the library? We have to finish our school project!
Alice:	That sounds like a good idea. But when we finish let's go to the cafè.
Alan:	Yes, I'd love to.

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What is an adjective clause?

Adjective Clauses

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What is an adjective clause?

An adjective clause (also called  adjectival clause) is a dependent clause which modifies a noun and usually begins with a relative pronoun (which, that, who, whom, whose) or a relative adverb (where, when, why).

Examples:

• Students who work hard get good grades.
  → The adjective clause who work hard modifies the noun students.
• The book which you lent me is very interesting.
  → The adjective clause which you lent me modifies the noun the book.
• Leila, whose father is a famous poet, invited me to her birthday party.
  → The adjective clause whose father is a famous poet modifies the noun Leila.
• My grandmother remembers the days when there were no personal computers.
  → The adjective clause when there were no personal computers modifies the noun the days.

There are two types of adjective clauses:

• restrictive or defining clauses
• non-restrictive or non-defining clauses

Restrictive / Defining Clauses

Restrictive (also called defining) clauses give essential information about the noun. These clauses don't require commas.

Examples

• The man who is standing there is a secret agent.
• The writer who won the Nobel Prize is from Colombia.

Non-restrictive / non-defining clauses

Non-restrictive (also called non-defining) clauses give extra or non-essential information about the noun. These clauses require commas.

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Sentence and sentence structure

Sentence and sentence structure

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What is a sentence?

In grammar, a sentence is the basic grammatical unit. It contains a group of words and expresses a complete thought.
A sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. For example in the sentence "Bill writes good poems" Bill is the subject of the sentence and writes good poems is the predicate.

Simple and complex sentences

Simple sentences contain one clause:

• The girl is learning how to drive

Complex sentences contain more than one clause.

• The girl who is learning how to drive is still twelve years old.
• She faced the whole trouble with courage and managed to solve the problem all by herself.

Types of sentences

There are four types of sentences:

1. Declarative sentence
   Applicants will be answered in due time. (It makes a statement.)
2. Imperative sentence
   Show me your photo album, please. ( Gives a command or makes a request.)
   
3. Interrogative sentence
   Do you like this photo? (Asks a question.)
   
4. Exclamatory sentence
   What a beautiful dress she is wearing ! (Shows strong feeling)

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Clause

What is a clause?

A clause is a group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate. There are two major types of clauses:

• Independent clauses
• Dependent clauses

Independent clauses

An indpendent clause, also called a main clause, is like a sentence. It consits of a subject and a predicate and can stand alone like a sentence.
Examples:

• She died last week
• He likes her.

Dependent clauses

A dependent clause, also called subordinate clause, has a subject and a verb but, unlike a dependent clause, it cannot stand alone as a sentence.

• because I am in love.
• that you lent me.
• who is over there.

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