YES/NO INTERROGATIVES AND THEIR RESPONSES

In the yes/no type it is only the polarity that is in question. The speaker asks for confirmation or denial of the clause content, to be expressed by yes or no. Such minimal replies often sound rather abrupt, however:

A. Do you sell fish fingers?

B. No.

A. At all? You don’t?                                                                                                     [KBC]

    (B’s first response overlaps with A’s question; B’s reply might be):

B. You can get them from the supermarket.

A feature of spoken English is the use of ellipted responses such as Yes, it is, No, we don’t, I can’t, has he? based on the Subject-operator (declarative) and operator-Subject (interrogative) patterns. These are independent abbreviated clauses. They are used in response to questions, statements, exclamations and directives. They show more interest and involvement than a mere Yes or No, and even more than mere silence! In conversation they keep the talk alive by passing the turn from one speaker to another:

A. Always angry isn’t he?

B. He’s a sweet old man though.

A. Is he?

B. Gets me nice birthday presents.

A. Does he?

B. Mm.                                                                               [KBL]

A common variant in AmE is the ‘copy tag’ with rising intonation, such as He does? This replaces A’s Does he? in the previous exchange. It is not common in BrE, although it resembles the BrE echo question. This repeats part, or all, of an immediately preceding utterance by another speaker. The motivation for using echoes is that the hearer did not comprehend, found difficult to believe, or did not hear properly what had been said:

I’m going to sell my golf clubs.                    Sell them?

What did you say to him?                            What did I say to him?

In interactive situations, in fact, a wide range of responses occurs, as speakers often express greater or less certainty about the proposition:

Have you got any stamps?

No, I don’t think I have, in fact I know I haven’t.            [KCX]

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

استعدادًا لانطلاق الفعاليات.. وصول المشاركات في مسابقة بصائر العلم الوطنية إلى مجمع الشيخ الكليني

قسم الشؤون الدينية يستذكر فضائل يوم دحو الأرض عبر محاضراته اليومية

عبر منافذ العتبة العباسية المقدسة.. ممثّلية مواكب محافظتي ديالى وذي قار تشارك بحملة التبرّع للشعبين الإيراني واللبناني

لتوسيعِ آفاقِ الإفادةِ من محتواها.. مركز الشيخ الأنصاري يحدّث الموقع الإلكترونيّ لمجلّة الخزانة

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

خبير يكشف 5 حقائق طبية صادمة وغير معروفة

ليس الأسود ولا الحيتان.. "كائن صغير" هو أخطر قاتل للبشر!

بارقة أمل لمرضى "الإيدز".. علاج خلوي ينجح في كبح الفيروس

ظاهرة مقلقة تتوسع.. "المستنشقات" خطر صامت يهدد المراهقين

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

اكتشاف مادة في الثوم تحسن قوة العضلات وتبطئ شيخوختها

تطور الحياة على الأرض المبكرة اعتمد على معدن نادر

باحثون صينيون يطوّرون بطارية مائية قد تعمل 300 عام

الذكاء الاصطناعي..هل يصبح متهما جنائيا في الجرائم والانتحار؟

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

QUESTION TAGS

INTERROGATIVE CLAUSES, NEGATION AND THE DO-OPERATOR

THE DECLARATIVE CLAUSE TYPE

THE DECLARATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE CLAUSE TYPES CLAUSE TYPES AND THE MOOD ELEMENT: SUBJECT-FINITE VARIATION

SPEECH ACTS AND CLAUSE TYPES SUMMARY

SPEECH ACTS AND CLAUSE TYPES THE BASIC CORRESPONDENCES

COMPLEMENTATION BY NON-FINITE CLAUSES SUMMARY

PAST PARTICIPIAL CLAUSES

Potential and factual meanings contrasted: to-infinitive and -ing clauses

Type 6: V + NG + -ing clause – I saw them waiting

Type 5 b: V + NG + -ing – We deplore his/him risking his life in this way

Type 5a: V + -ing clause – I like listening to music