Presented by: Khadija GOUALI Naima SELLAM

Supervised by: Jennifer JUNE EVANS Youssef TAMER

Outline YES/NO Questions Tag Questions Wh-Questions Other types of YES/NO and Wh- Questions Problems that ESL/EFL students have with

Questions Suggested activity for teaching Questions

QUESTIONS

1) Subject-auxiliary (or subject-aux) inversion:

Ex: -Has he read the letter?

-Is he a teacher?

-Could you pass the salt?

2) Do insertion or do support:.

Ex: Does she go to school everyday?

Positive Yes/No Questions

Do not imply any expectation regarding

whether the answer will be yes or no.

Ex: do you like dancing?

To form a negative Yes/No question, the verbal element

is contracted with not at the beginning of the question.

Generally asked to confirm a specific expectation or

assumption.

Ex: Didn’t you bring the book?

Can often express annoyance or disappointment

because of a previous expectation that has not been

met.

Ex: Haven’t you talked to him yet?

Negative Yes/No Questions

Reduced Yes/No Questions

1) Elliptical Yes/No Questions:

Ex: You want to talk to her?

Ex: You hungry?

2) Declarative Yes/No Questions: They are used to:

a- Check information:

Ex: a- This my younger brother.

b- He is your brother?

b- Repeat to question or confirm what has already been said.

Ex: a- I lost my job yesterday.

b- You lost your job?

c- Express surprise, amazement, or annoyance.

Ex: You bought a car ?!

Tag question is a special constraction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question and the mini-question at the end is called a question tag.

Ex:- He does, doesn’t he? - He will play basketball, won’t he?

What is a tag question?

Statement Question Tag

-Positive statementSnow is white

-Negative statementYou don’t like me

-Nagative tagIsn’t it?

-Positive tagDo you?

How are they formed?

The statement and the tag are always separated by a comma.

The verb in the statement should be the same tense as the verb in the tag.

Ex: -His parents are very old, aren't they? -You won't tell him my secret, will

you?

If the statement does not use an auxiliary/modal (i.e. it is in the present or past simple tense), then the auxiliary to do must be used.

Ex: She comes from Korea, doesn't she? 

Why do we use tag questions?

It is possible for a positive statement

to be followed by a positive tag for even more effect (sarcasm, anger, disbelief, shock, concern etc).

Ex: Oh you will, will you? You think you're funny, do you?

Same Polarity Tag Questions

Real question rising intonation Ex: The chairman is coming at 3.00,

isn't he?

Not a real question flat or falling intonation

Ex: It's a nice day today, isn't it?

Tag Question & Intonation.

WH- Questions

WH- Questions about an object:

a-wh-movement and subject-aux inversion

Ex: What are you carrying?

b- wh-movement and do insertion

Ex: Who did you see?

WH- Questions about a subject: The subject is

converted to the appropriate wh-word

Ex: Who kicked the ball?

WH- Questions with How + Adjective/Adverb: How

is combined with adj and adv to form questions: how

many, how long…

Ex: How many children do you have?

Embedded WH- Questions: inserted questions inside

a large sentence

Ex: I don’ t know what she is doing?

Types of WH- Questions 1-WH- Information Questions:Ex: Where did she go?

2-Repeat Please Questions: Ex: When did she get in?

3-Two different word order:

Ex: When did she go ? She went when?

4-Elaborate Please Questions:

Ex: When?

1- Alternative Questions:*Offer at least two alternative answers.Ex: Is she from Korea or Japnease?

2- Echo Questions:*Repeat all or part of what has been said.Ex: Did you borrow my car keys? Did I borrow your car keys?

Other Types of Yes/ No Questions & Wh- Questions.

3- Exclamatory Questions:*Exclamations asserting the belief of the

speaker.Ex: Isn’t he smart?4-Rhetorical Questions: *Are not intended to be answered, but

instead, serve to state the opinion of the speaker.

Ex: -Have you heard the news about Alan? -Who hasn’t?

5- Display Questions: *Do not begin with Wh-word and are often

used by teachers to request that students display their knowledge about sth.

Ex: So this play is about what?

PROBLEMS THAT ESL/EFL STUDENTS HAVE WITH

QUESTIONS

The influence of the Native Language1- Intonation (Portugues lng)Ex: - Você mora perto daqui? - you live near here? - “Do you live near here?”2- A question marker + intonation (Arabic

lng)Ex: - Ji:ridu an jal3aba. - He wants to play. - Hal Ji:ridu an jal3aba? - Does he want to play?

1- Negative Yes/No questios (Korean lng)Ex: a: Ne ol swu-eps ni? = Can’t you come? b: A-ni,na ka-l-swu iss-e? = No, I can come. No -> to a negative question = YesYes -> to a positive question = No

Overgeneralization.

2- Wh- information questions (Portugues lng)

Ex: - O que falou a Nicole Kidman? -What said Nicole Kidman? ( what did Nikole Kidman say?)

This activity is going to be like a quiz show. A selected student will give an answer to a

question chosen by him/her, then ask the students to figure out what the appropriate wh- question for that answer is.

The time given to figure out the question is limited ( 10 seconds)

Activity

Exercise

The Teacher’s Grammar of English by Ron Cowan.

http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/questions.htm

http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/tags01.html

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/questions.html

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/questiontext.htm

References