YES NO QUESTIONS

A question is refered to as a yes-no question when the person responding is expected to answer yes or no (e.g. Are you feeling better?). as opposed to the way one supplies information in answering a question such as What is todays date? Problems fo learners Yes-no question formation in English is often difficult for beginning ESL/EFL students to master. English forms yes-no questions by means of inversion-so do some other languages, such as German, but generally their inversion rule is simpler than the english one. An analysis of yes-no questions Consider the following yes-no questions: 1. Are the children playing in the yard? 2. Will John study linguistics? 3. Has Alice gone home? 4. Were you able to see George? Yes-no questions in English have only one auxiliary element to the left of the subject NP/Furthermore., the auxiliary that is moved to sentence initial position is the auxiliary which occupies the first position in the sequence of auxiliaries in the base structure. The Q marker which appears in the basic structure is a sentence marker which calls for the yes-no question transformation (i.e. subject/auxiliary inversion). Sentence : Had Mark seen the later? S SM Q NP N NUC AUX tense perf V VP NP

Mark

past

HAVE

EN

see

det The

N letter

Some / any variation in yes-no questions

In yes-no questions there is subtle variation between some and any that cannot be explained using the some/any suppletion rule discussed in the preceding. Consider questions like these : Some 1. Do you want coffee? Any Some 2. Do you have Any A polite hostess making an offer for the first time would undoubtedly use some in her version of the first question. The same question with any is more informal. scratch paper?

Elliptical Yes-No Questions

At smoe point you will want to expose your intermediate and advanced level students to informal yes-no questions that occur without an initial auxiliary. Such questions are fairly frequent in informal conversations between native speakers and are different from uninverted yes-no questions. (Are) you going to the movies? (were) they supposed to finish the work last night? (Has) she been feeling better? (Do) you know Fred Callaghan?

The Periphrastic Modals and Yes-No Questions

The periphrastic modals, unlike the modal auxiliaries, vary with regard to yes-no question formation. Most treat their first element as an auxiliary verb that can be inverted, but a few require DO support. The latter will have to be practiced separately. Behave like Auxiliaries (first element inverts) be going to (Are you going to stay?) be able to be to be supposed to had better would rather would like to would prefer to Require Do Support used to (Did you use to?) have to (Do you have to?)

WH-QUESTIONS
Wh-questions are a complex topic because of the variety of wh-question types in English and because some of them are definitely harder to learn than others. In some traditional grammars, yes-no questions are called general question because the whole preposition is being questioned. Consider the following sentences: Dis someone walk the dog? Who walked the dog?

Types of wh-questions
There are at least nine different types that you should be aware of: 1. Subject NP: what happened? Who left? 2. Object NP: Who(m) did you see? What did you do? 3. Object of a preposition: who(m) did you talk to?/To whom did you talk? 4. Adverbials of time, place, manner, reason, and means: When did you leave? Why is he laughing? Where did you go? How did he get to the party? (by bus) How did she dance? (gracefully) 5. Demonstrative determiners: What Book do you want? Which 6. Possesive determiners: whose book is that? 7. Quantity determiners: How many cars does she have? How much wine did he drink? 8. Intensifier : How smart is she? How fast can he run? 9. Adjective phrase (state, condition): How are you?

Wh-questions that focus on the subject

First examine an sample tree diagram and derivation for a wh-question that focuses on the subject NP. Who broke the window? S NUC NP Pro AUX T V break det The VP NP N window

Someone + Q past

Wh-questions with the copula BE

Example : What is that object? Some of you may think at first that the subject NP is being questioned and that onlywh-replacement is needed. The correct basic structure for this question is: S NUC NP det that N object AUX T pres BE VP NP Pro

something + Q The transformational rules needed to derive this wh-question are: Output of base: that object pres BE something + Q Whreplacement: that object pres BE what Wh-fronting: what that object pres BE Subject/auxiliary inversion: what pres BE that object Affix attachment (1X): what BE + pres that object Subject-verb agreement and morphological rules: what is that object?

Uninverted wh-questions
It should perhaps also be mentioned that wh-fronting and subject/auxiliary inversion may be supressed in certain wh-questions that express surprise or disbelief.

Negative wh-questions
Negative wh-questions that question something in the predicate also have two different surface forms depending on whether NOT contraction has taken place.

THE ARTICLE SYSTEM

The definite article is derived from the demonstrative signaling distance(i.e. that) while the indefinite article is derived from the numerol one. The latter derivation for example, helps explain why the form of the indefinite article occuring before a word with an initial vowel sound is an; i.e., the n in an and one are historically related. Structural facts about articles All common nouns must be further classified as mass (e.g. water, clothing, luggage) or count(a beverage, ashirt, a suitcase) because only count nouns can have singular and/or plural forms: Mass Count *Two waters: *a water two beverages: a beverage *two clothings: * a clothing two shirts: a shirt *two luggages: *a luggage two suitcases: a suitcase

The mass-count distinction

MASS (a to e are ungrammatical) a. *The bacon (a singular unit) is lying next to another one. b. *A bacon fell onto my plate. c. *The bacons got cold. d. *Some bacons were in the cupboard. e. *Bacons are for eating f. The bacon was to salty. g. Some bacon was found in the cupboard. h. Bacon is naturally salty. COUNT (f to h are ungrammatical) a. The boy played in the street. b. A boy played in the street c. The boys played in the street. d. Some boys played in the street. e. Boys are made of snails and puppy-dog tails. f. *The boy (uncountable amount) was not enough for the scout troop. g. *Some boy made up the scount troop. h. *Boy is made of snails and puppy-dog tails.

Article Usage
For this aspect of article usage we have to consider the discourse context (i.e. how familiar the speaker/writer is (and thinks the listener/reader is) with the noun(s) being mentioned).

Definite Article Usage

1. unique for all: the moon, the earth, the sun 2. unique for a given setting: the blackboard, the ceiling, the floor. 3. unique for a given social group: the car, the dog, the baby, the president. 4. unique by pointing, nodding, etc: the book, the chair. 5. unique because of characteristics that get attention: the explosion, the streaker. 6. unique by entailment: (in talking about a house: the windows, the garden, the kitchen) 7. unique by definition: the house with a view, the girl who speaks basque. 8. unique by prior utterance Isaw a funny-looking dog to day. The dog...) To Browns eight categories, we would add two more: 9. unique by a specified order or rank in a set: the last sentence on the page: the fastest runner in the heat. 10. unique by anticipation: we found the hubcap of a car that must be very expensive.

Indefinite Article Usage

Browns matrix shows us that the indefinite article is used to perform a number of discourse functions: 1. To introduce a noun to the listener that is specific for the speaker but not the listener. e.g.: I saw a funny-looking dog to day. (i.e. lower left quadrant of the matrix) 2. To show that the noun does not have a specific referent for either the speaker or the listener. e.g.: I need a new belt. (lower right quadrant of the matrix) 3. To refer to anoun that is nonspecific for the speaker but which is assumed to be specific for the listener. Ie. The speaker guesses, or pretends to guess.

Potential Ambiguity of The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article - especially in object position - may be ambiguous as to whether it modifies a noun that is specific or nonspecific for the speaker. A later reference in the discourse to such an indefinite noun can help disambiguate.

The Indefinite Article With Predicate Nominals

Example : This is a pencil John is a teacher

Indefinite vs. Generic Noun Phrase

Example : I need some chairs. I need chairs.