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YES/NO QUESTIONS

There are many types of questions in English. The easiest are questions that

can be

answered "yes" or "no."

A: Are you from around here?

B: Yes, I am.

A: Do you come here often?

B: Yes, I do.

A: Can I buy you a drink?

B: No, thanks.

A: Are you married?

B: Yes, I am.

To form a question from a statement, first countthe number of verbs.

John is a doctor. One verb: is (be)

Jane drives a sports car. One verb: drives

Joan played basketball last night. One verb: playedJan is eating her dinner. Two verbs: is eating

June has rented an apartment. Two verbs: has rented

Jen has been living there since 1969. Three verbs: has been living

If there is one verbin the statement and the verb is a form of be, simply

switch the

positions of the subject and verb.

Statement Question

John is a doctor. Is John a doctor?

The Jensens are here. Are the Jensens here?

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If there are two verbs, simply switch the positions of the subject

and firstverb.

Statement Question

Jan is eating dinner. Is Jan eating dinner?

June has rented an apartment. Has June rented an apartment?

Jen has been living here since 1969. Has Jen been living here since 1969?

If there is one verb, and the verb is not a form of be, the process is more

complex.

1. Add Doto the beginning of the sentence.

The Johnsons live in that house. Do the Johnsons live in that house?

2. If the main verb "carries" a third person singular s, move the s to Do,

making it Does.

Jane drives a car. Do Jane drives a car? (Not finished yet!)Does Jane drive a car? (Good question!)

In conversation, most questions are asked of the secondperson (you) and

answered in

the first(I).

A: Are you from California?

B: No, I'm from Oregon. Are you?

A: Yes, I'm from Hollywood.

B: Do you know any movie stars?

A: No, I don't go out at night.

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CAN AND CANT

Can is a modal verb.

Can is used to express ability or to say that something is possible.

Can is the same for all subjects. We don't add an 'S' in the third person (like

other verbs)

The verb that comes after Can is in the infinitive without to:

I canspeakSpanish. (= it is possible for me to speak Spanish = I havethe ability to speak Spanish)

He canswimwell. We canseemy neighbour in the garden. They canplaythe guitar.

Negative

To form the negative we add "not" after can to form one word: cannot.

We can also contract the negative to form can't. (can't = cannot)

I cannotplaythe piano. We can'tgoto the cinema tonight. She cannotspeakFrench very well. He can'tdrivea car.

Questions

To from the question we change the position of the subject and the auxiliary

verb.

The main verb is still in the infinitive without to.

Where can I buyan ice-cream? Can Igoto the party, please?

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Can you speakJapanese? What can we doon Saturday?

Remember that you can use short answers:

Can I sit here please?Yes, you can. Can you speak Chinese? No, I can't.

Impersonal Can

SometimesYou can and Can you? are impersonal and refer to people in

general.

You can see many stars at night from here. (= people in general can seemany stars)

It doesn't necessarily refer to you but people in general.

You can't run naked in the middle of the street.Not necessarily saying YOU can't run naked in the middle of the street but ingeneral it is not possible for anyone.