Questions and Negatives 223 3. That eliminated the problem. 4. That is stretching the material. 5. They will hire a consultant. 6. We have gathered enough material. 7. You can get away this weekend. 8. They questioned the results. 9. Ruth can convince them of anything. 10. The kids are making too much noise. 11. This seat is occupied. 12. It will rain this afternoon. 13. I should ignore his advice. 14. They have examined the issue carefully. 15. The photographer is ready. There are not many differences in grammar between British and American English, but the use of have as a main verb is one of them. In American English, have as a main verb is just like any other main verb (except be, of course). To form a yes-no question, we must use the dummy helping verb do. For example: Statement Inverted yes-no question She has a cold. Does she have a cold? They had a good time. Did they have a good time? I have a question. Do you have a question? The program had a bug. Did the program have a bug? In British English, however, have can also be treated like the main verb be: it is inverted with the subject without the use of do. For example: Statement Inverted yes-no question She has a cold. Has she a cold? They had a good time. Had they a good time? I have a question. Have you a question? The program had a bug. Had the program a bug? (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 223 3/16/09 12:34:22 PM 224 Sentences According to some studies, in British English the use of do with have as a main verb is becoming more common in informal situations so that, for example, you would hear both of these in conversation in England: Has she a cold? Does she have a cold? Likewise, the British use of have as a main verb is much more commonly heard in American English that it was a few generations ago. Exercise 13.5 Change the following statements containing have into both British and American English. We have a problem. British English American English Have we a problem? Do we have a problem? 1. You have a glass. 2. The car has a fl at tire. 3. You have your ticket. 4. She has a good chance. 5. Your cat has a name. 6. The house has a pool. 7. The picture has a frame. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 224 3/16/09 12:34:22 PM Questions and Negatives 225 8. The book has an index. 9. The letter has a stamp. 10. The car has a GPS. One problem nonnative speakers may have with yes-no questions is that in informal conver- sational English, nobody seems to follow the rules. In listening to casual conversation, you will be surprised at how frequent nonstandard, informal yes-no questions are. One study of conver- sational English found that informal questions made up an astonishing 41 percent of the total number of questions. By far the most common informal yes-no question is one in which an inverted verb (or be as a main verb) has been deleted. In the following examples, the deleted verb is represented by ∅: Standard yes-no question Elliptical yes-no question Are they going to the meeting? ∅ They going to the meeting? Are you ready? ∅ You ready? Do you know where the sugar is? ∅ You know where the sugar is? Have you had lunch yet? ∅ You had lunch yet? Notice the deleted verb is either a helping verb (some form of be from a progressive tense; some form of have from a perfect tense; or some form of the dummy helping verb do) or it is some form of be used as a main tense. We cannot delete modal auxiliary verbs. For example: Standard yes-no question Elliptical yes-no question Can I come with you? X ∅ I come with you? Will we get there on time? X ∅ We get there on time? Should they call a cab? X ∅ They call a cab? Exercise 13.6 Change the statements in the left column to the corresponding informal yes-no question in the right column. Use a ∅ to represent the position of the missing verb. If you cannot change the statement into an informal yes-no question, write Invalid. Statement Informal yes-no question You are taking a break. ∅ You taking a break? (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 225 3/16/09 12:34:22 PM 226 Sentences 1. The group is working on it. 2. They are redoing the offi ce again. 3. We have been opening new stores. 4. You can locate the Smith fi le. 5. The cat is staring at the goldfi sh. 6. You have been sleeping badly lately. 7. They should try to fi nish today. 8. Harry was very upset about it. 9. There have been some questions. 10. You miss me. (Tricky!) Information questions The other major type of question is information questions. They are called information ques- tions because (unlike yes-no questions) they begin with interrogative pronouns that ask for spe- cifi c kinds of information. For example, information questions that begin with the interrogative pronoun where ask for information about place. For example, the question Where did Charlie go? must be answered with information about the places where Charlie could have gone. For instance: He went to Chicago. He went home. He went where he could get a good latte. Here is a list of the main single-word interrogative pronouns arranged by the part of speech that the interrogative pronoun plays: Pronoun Part of speech Example Who, whom Noun phrase Who are you? Whom did you meet? What, which Noun phrase What did you fi nd? Which did you pick? Whose, which Possessive Whose book is on the desk? (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 226 3/16/09 12:34:22 PM Questions and Negatives 227 Noun phrase Which book do you want? Where Adverb of place Where are you going? When Adverb of time When will you get there? Why Adverb of reason Why do you want to go there? How Adverb of manner How will you get there? In addition, there are a number of interrogatives compounded with how. All of these are adverbs. For example: How often Frequency How often do you go there? How long Length in time/space How long will you stay? How far Distance How far is it? How much Quantity How much does it cost to go there? How soon Quickness How soon can you get there? Sometimes these adverbs are called interrogative adverbs, and sometimes they are merely lumped together with the other interrogative pronouns, as we will do here. Exercise 13.7 Underline the interrogative pronouns and label their part of speech: noun, possessive noun, or type of adverb. Adv of frequency How often do you come here? 1. Who are you? 2. Whom did you say you were? 3. How much gasoline do we need to buy? 4. Whose advice should we take? 5. When shall we three meet again? 6. Why do we want to do that? 7. Whom did they fi nally pick? 8. How did your team do this weekend? 9. Whose dog is that in the backyard? 10. How much longer do we have to wait? (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 227 3/16/09 12:34:22 PM 228 Sentences If you look at the ten information questions in Exercise 13.7, you will immediately notice one thing: all information questions begin with an interrogative pronoun. Clearly, one part of form- ing information questions is to move the interrogative pronoun to the fi rst position in the sen- tence (unless it was already in the fi rst position to begin with). To get a sense of how this process works, let us begin with a simple example: Where shall we eat? Underlying every question, no matter whether it is a yes-no question or an information question, there is a corresponding statement. The statement that underlies this information question is Adv of place We should eat where. Here the interrogative pronoun where originates as an adverb of place following the verb eat. We change this underlying statement into something approximating the fi nal information question by moving the interrogative adverb to the beginning of the sentence: We should eat where. ⇒ Where we should eat? In many languages in the world, Where we should eat? would be a perfectly grammatical sentence. English, of course, makes the process more complicated. Information questions must also undergo the same rule that we saw for yes-no questions: we must invert the fi rst verb with the subject. In other words, there is a general rule that holds equally for both yes-no and information questions. In our example, the fi nal step in converting the underlying statement to a question is inverting the verb should and the subject we: Where we should eat. ⇒ Where should we eat? As you can see, there is a two-step process for converting underlying statements into information questions: 1. Move the interrogative pronoun to the fi rst position in the sentence. 2. Invert the verb and subject. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 228 3/16/09 12:34:22 PM Questions and Negatives 229 Here are some more examples showing the application of the two rules: Adv of time Underlying statement: They will be back when. Rule 1: They will be back when. ⇒ When they will be back. Rule 2: When they will be back. ⇒ When will they be back? Adv of frequency Underlying statement: You have seen it how often. Rule 1: You have seen it how often. ⇒ How often you have seen it. Rule 2: How often you have seen it. ⇒ How often have you seen it? NP Underlying statement: We should give them what. Rule 1: We should give them what. ⇒ What we should give them. Rule 2: What we should give them. ⇒ What should we give them? Poss noun Underlying statement: That is whose car. Rule 1: That is whose car. ⇒ Whose car that is. Rule 2: Whose car that is. ⇒ Whose car is that? Note that the possessive noun whose can never be separated from car, the word whose modifi es. In other words the possessive noun ϩ noun unit makes up a single noun phrase that cannot be broken up. Exercise 13.8 Change the following statements to information questions. Apply the two rules step by step. We are leaving how soon. Rule 1: We are leaving how soon. ⇒ How soon we are leaving. Rule 2: How soon we are leaving. ⇒ How soon are we leaving? 1. They will fi nish on time how. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 229 3/16/09 12:34:23 PM . English that it was a few generations ago. Exercise 13.5 Change the following statements containing have into both British and American English. We have a problem. British English American English Have. ready. There are not many differences in grammar between British and American English, but the use of have as a main verb is one of them. In American English, have as a main verb is just like. the program a bug? (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 223 3/16/09 12 :34: 22 PM 224 Sentences According to some studies, in British English the use of do with have as a main verb is becoming more