es: short forms A: Short forms as answers 1. We often use short forms to answer questions. Usually we repeat the first word of the verb phrase: A: Can you come round tomorrow? B: Yes, I can/ No I can’t. A: Have you seen Jack lately? B: Yes, I have/No I haven’t. A: Do you like living here? B: Yes, I do/ No I don’t. Sometimes we change the modal verb: (see Verb Phrase) A: Will you come? B: Yes, we might. A: Do you think they might come? B: Yes, I think they will. 2. We often use verbs like think, suppose, expect and hope, to answer questions. when the answer is yes we add so (I expect so, I hope so, etc.). if the answer is no we say I don’t think so, I don’t suppose so, etc.. but with hope we say I hope not. A: Can you come tomorrow? B: I hope so. A: Will they be at home? B: I expect so. A: Is Amsterdam the capital of The Netherlands? B: I don’t think so. A: Do you think it’s going to rain? B: I hope not. 3. We often use adverbials of probability like perhaps, probably, possibly, maybe, definitely and certainly as short answers: A: Do you think it’s going to rain? B: Yes, possibly. A: Can you come round tomorrow? B: Definitely! When the answer is negative we put not after the adverbial: A: Do you think it’s going to rain? B: Probably not. A: Can you come round tomorrow? B: Maybe not. 4. We can use short forms to agree or disagree with what someone says. Usually we use the first word in the verb phrase: A: It’s a lovely day. B: Yes, it is. A: I think they might have missed their train. B: Yes, I think they might. A: The children will be coming to see us next week. B: No they won’t. They are going to their grandparents. Sometimes we change the modal: A: The children will be coming to see us next week. B: Yes, they might. A: The children might be coming to see us next week. B: No they won’t. They are going to their grandparents. We use do/does//don’t/doesn’t to agree or disagree with a statement in the present simple form: A: Your grandmother looks very well. B: Yes, she does. A: I think Jack lives here. B: No he doesn’t …and we use did/didn’t for past simple: A: Everybody really enjoyed the trip. B: Yes, they did. A: The children went to Malaysia last year. B: No they didn’t. They went to Singapore. 5. We sometimes put a short tag at the end of a comment. We use a Yes/No question form for the tag. If the comment is affirmative we normally use a negative tag: A: It’s a lovely day. B: Yes, it is, isn’t it. A: Your grandmother looks very well. B: Yes, she does, doesn’t she. A: Everybody really enjoyed the trip. B: Yes, they did, didn’t they. If the comment is negative we normally use an affirmative tag: A: They didn’t seem to enjoy the trip very much. B: They didn’t, did they. A: It’s not a very nice day. B: No, it isn’t, is it. A: They haven’t done much. B: No, they haven’t, have they. 6. Sometimes we put a tag on the end of a statement: It’s a lovely day, isn’t it? Your grandmother looks very well, doesn’t she? They haven’t done much, have they? They all seemed to enjoy the trip, didn’t they? 7 We use affirmative tags with so and neither or nor to add to what someone has said. We use so to add to an affirmative: A: John is working in Barcelona. B: And so is Maria [= Maria is working in Barcelona, too.] A: I love Indian food. B: So do I = [I love Indian food, too.] A: They’ve just bought a new computer. B: Really? So have we. [= We have also bought a new computer.] We use neither or nor to add to a negative: A: I don’t smoke any more. B: Neither do I. [= I also don’t smoke] A: They haven’t written to us for ages. B: Nor has Peter. [= Peter hasn’t written to us for ages, too.] A: We won’t be taking a holiday this year. B: Neither will we. [= We also won’t be taking a holiday this year.] A: I never have time for breakfast. B: Nor have I. [= I am as busy as you] B: Short forms for questions 1. We often use short forms to ask questions when we want some more information; A: I’ll see you on Monday. B: What time? A: We are going on holiday next week. B: Where? A: You can get a new computer very cheaply. B: How? If we want to be more polite we can use a longer question: A: I’m going to London on Monday. B: What time are you going? A: We are going on holiday next week. B: Where are you going? A: You can get a new computer very cheaply. B: How can I do that? 2. We often use questions with What about… or How about … to refer back to what someone has said: A: I love the Beatles. What about you? B: Yes, I love their music too. A: Your father seems to be working hard. What about your mother? B: Yes she’s working hard too? A: I’m exhausted. How about you? B: No, I’m fine. A: I really enjoyed the film. How about you? B: No, I didn’t like it very much. 3. We use short questions to check what someone has said: A: George phoned last week. B: Did he? A: They’ve just had a baby. B: Have they? A: He’ll be here soon. B: Will he? C. Leaving words out 1. When we are speaking we sometimes leave words out if our meaning is still clear: We could use any of these to offer someone a cup of coffee: Would you like a cup of coffee? You like a cup of coffee? Like a cup of coffee? A cup of coffee? Cup of coffee? Coffee? And someone could reply: Yes, please. I would like a cup. Yes, please. I would. Yes please. Please.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 17:26:40 +0000
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