Название: ГРАММАТИКА АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА Морфология. Синтаксис

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Interrogative sentences

§ 8. Interrogative sentences contain questions. Their communicative function consists in asking for information. They belong to the sphere of conversation and only occasionally occur in monological speech.

All varieties of questions may be structurally reduced to two main types, general questions (also called “yes-no” questions) and pronominal questions (otherwise called “special” or “wh” - questions). Both are graphically identified by a question mark. The two main types have a number of structural and communicative modifications.

General questions

§ 9. In  general questions the speaker is interested to know whether some event or phenomenon asked about exists or does not exist; accordingly the answer may be positive or negative, thus containing or implying “yes” or “no”.                         

A general question opens with a verb operator, that is, an auxiliary, modal, or link verb followed by the subject. Such questions are characterized by the rising tone.

Does your sister go figure-skating?

Is that girl a friend of yours?

Can you speak French?

“Yes-no” questions may be incomplete and reduced to two words only: Can you? Does he?

A negative "yes-no" question usually adds some emotional colouring of surprise or disappointment.

Haven’t you posted the letter yet? (Why?)

General questions opening with will/would may be considered as commands and requests according to their communicative role (see § 17).

Owing to their occasional emotional colouring, “yes-no” questions may function as exclamations (see § 22).

Tag questions

§ 10. A  tag question is a short “yes-no” question added to a statement. It consists only of an operator prompted by the predicate verb of the statement and a pronoun prompted by the subject. Generally the tag has a rising tone.

You know French, don’t you? - Yes, a bit.

George is a football fan, isn’t he? - He certainly is.

A tag question is added to a statement for confirmation and therefore is sometimes called aconfirmative question. It corresponds to such Russian tag questions as He так ли? Не правда ли? Ведь так? The speaker expects the listener to share his view of some situation rather than to give him some new information. The most usual patterns of sentences with tag questions are as follows.

Positive statement - negative tag - positive answer

You knew that before, didn’t you? - Yes, I did.

Negative statement - positive tag - negative answer

You didn’t know that before, did you? - No, I didn’t.

The answer, however, may be unexpected, as in: You didn’t know that before, did you ? - But I did.

The falling tone of the tag is also possible. It makes the whole sentence sound like a statement. The speaker actually knows the answer and can do without it.

There is one more sentence pattern with a tag question which is less frequently used.

Positive statement - positive tag

You knew about it before, did you?

Negative statement - negative tag

You didn’t know about it before, didn’t you?

This sentence pattern is used when the speaker comes to a conclusion concerning some event. Such sentences may begin with the conjunction so.

So you knew about it before, did you?

A sentence pattern with a tag question may serve as a response to the previous remark. Thus it forms a comment having some emotional attitude, such as surprise, anger, sarcasm.

They even put the car on the ship for you.

- They do, do they? Who takes it off again?

He brought these flowers, too. - He did, did he? - Yes.

Alternative questions

§ 11. An  alternative question implies a choice between two or more alternative answers. Like a “yes-no” question, it opens with an operator, but the suggestion of choice expressed by the disjunctive conjunction or makes the “yes-no” answer impossible. The conjunction or links either two homogeneous parts of the sentence or two coordinate clauses. The part of the question before the conjunction is characterized by a rising tone, the part after the conjunction has a falling tone.

Will you go to the opera or to the concert to-night?

An alternative question may sometimes resemble a pronominal question beginning with a question word:

Which do you prefer, tea or coffee?

Where shall we go, to the cinema or to the football match?

Actually such structures fall into two parts, the first forms a pronominal question, the second a condensed alternative question.

Would you prefer tea or coffee?

Shall we go to the cinema or to the football match?

Sometimes the alternative contains only a negation:

Will they ever stop arguing or not?

Suggestive questions

§ 12. Suggestive questions, also called  declarative questions, form a peculiar kind of "yes-no" questions. They keep the word order of statements but serve as questions owing to the rising tone in speaking and a question mark in writing, as in:

You really want to go now, to-night?

- Yes, nothing could make me stay.

By their communicative function suggestive questions resemble sentences with tag questions; they are asked for the sake of confirmation. The speaker is all but sure what the answer will be (positive or negative), and by asking the question expects confirmation on the part of the addressee.

You are familiar with the town?

- I spent winter here many years ago.

You still don’t believe me, Aunt Nora?

- No, I don't.

The answer is sometimes unexpected.

A child like you talking of “we women”! What next? You’re not in earnest?

- Yes, I am.

Unlike ordinary “yes-no” questions, suggestive questions may contain independent elements, such as interjections, modal words or phrases, the conjunction so, parenthetical clauses, etc., as in:

You are joking, eh?

Surely you are not offended?

So you knew about, it before?

Suggestive questions are frequently used as question responses with various kinds of emotional colouring, most often that of surprise or incredulity.

He said you were a very good ski-teacher.

- He said that?

You sound surprised.

Because of their main communicative function, suggestive questions are very useful as leading questions to get exact information, as seen in the following passage:

You mean to say he at no time asked you the actual purpose of your visit?

- Not at that interview.

- And it did not occur to you to force this information on him ?

- Indeed it did...

Pronominal questions

§13. Pronominal questions open with an interrogative pronoun or a pronominal adverb, the function of which is to get more detailed and exact information about some event or phenomenon known to the speaker and listener.

The interrogative pronouns and adverbs which function as question words are as follows: what, which, who, whom, whose, where, when, why, how and the archaic whence (= where from), whither (= where, where to), wherefore (= what for, why).

Adverbial phrases such as how long, how often may also function as question words.

Question words may have various syntactical functions in the sentence, depending upon the information the speaker wants to obtain:

1. Who came first? (subject) - I did.

2. What makes you think so? (subject) - Your behaviour.

3. Whose team has won the match? (attribute) - Ours.

4. Which story did you like best? (attribute) - The last.

5. Who is that man? (predicative) - He is my brother.

6. What are you doing there? (object) - Nothing.

7. When are you going to come back? (adverbial of time) - Tomorrow.

8. How can I get to your place? (adverbial of manner) - By bus.

As can be seen from the above examples, word order in a pronominal question is characterized by inversion of the operator and the subject. Inversion does not take place when the question word is the subject or an attribute to the subject (see examples 1, 2, 3).

A question word may be preceded by a preposition.

On what resolution do you insist?

In colloquial English it is preferable to shift the preposition to the end of the question.

What are you laughing at?

What did you argue about?

In colloquial English the pronoun who is used as a question word functioning either as subject or object.

Who has done it?

Who do you see there?

The tone of pronominal questions is usually a falling one.

§ 14. Pronominal questions are often used as short responses. They usually consist of (a) a question word or (b) a question word followed by a preposition.

a) I’m leaving for home. - When?

George won’t come to-night. - Why?

Let’s meet again. - Where?

I think I can help you. - How?

b) I want to talk with you. - What about?

Come again. - What for?

Open the tin. - What with?

The patterns (a) and (b) are employed when some information is missing and the listener asks for the necessary information. The tone is falling.

§ 15. Question words preceded by prepositions are usually employed as echo questions. No information is missing in the previous remark, the whole idea is questioned. The tone is rising and the question word is heavily stressed. They express surprise, incredulity and sometimes incomprehension.

Let’s talk about life on Saturn. - About what?

I opened the door with a pin. - With what?

You are a shameless liar, - I am a what?

Our neighbour was born in 1973. - She was born when?

The whole of the question may be reduced to the question word, with the article repeated if necessary.

- Your husband was telling us all about the chromosomes.

- The what?

- The chromosomes, the genes... or whatever they are.

- The Boss wants to see you.

- The who?

The whole of the pronominal question may be re-addressed to gain time for the answer. The re-addressed question takes a rising tone.

When are you going to see me? - When am I going to see you? -Yes, when? - On Sunday, if it suits you.

Rhetorical questions

§ 16. Both general and pronominal questions may serve as rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question contains a statement disguised as a question. Usually it is a positive question hiding a negative statement. No answer is expected.

Can any one say what truth is? (No one can say what it is.)

Do we always act as we ought to? (We do not always act as we ought to.)

What else could I do? (I could do nothing.)

Who would have thought to meet you here? (Nobody would.)

In their form and intonation rhetorical questions do not differ from standard question types. The difference lies in their communicative aim. A rhetorical question does not ask for any new information. It implies a statement and is always emotionally coloured. Besides, it is employed to attract the listener's attention. Since rhetorical questions do not require an answer, they are not followed by a response. The speaker may give an answer himself to clarify his idea. Rhetorical questions are employed in monological speech, especially in oratory, and poetry in the writer’s digressions.

To me what is wealth? - it may pass in an hour.

If tyrants prevail, or if Fortune should frown:

To me what is title? - the phantom of power;

To me what is fashion ? - I seek but renown. (Byron)

And what, after all, can it be other than modesty that makes him [Roy Kear] even now write to the reviewers of his books, thanking them for their praise and ask them for luncheon? (Maugham)

Rhetorical questions occur in colloquial English too, as in this fragment of dialogue:

Will you give me a picture of yours? - What for?... I’m not Marilyn Monroe or Jane Mansfield.