General points about Yes/No questions

1 A noun subject is not normally used in front of the auxiliary (Not * James is he leaving?*) unless we are addressing someone James are you going into the town? Susan do you like fish?

2 If there are a number of auxiliaries in the same sentence it is always the first one that goes in front of the subject statement He could have been delayed question Could he have been delayed?

3 The whole subject comes after the auxiliary however long it is Can everyone in the room hear me? Does everyone in the room agree?

4 Questions like the following are possible in conversation when we wish to make it quite clear who or what we are referring to Has she caught a cold your mother? Is it all right that coffee? Does he play football your brother?

5 In everyday speech some Yes/No questions can be abbreviated Leaving already? (For Are you?) Like another cup of tea? (For Would you?) Enjoy the party? (For Did you?)

6 We generally ask Yes/No questions with a rising intonation Have you finished your supper? Did you phone your mother?

7 Yes/No questions (exaggerated intonation) can be exclamations Is he mad' Can she type¹ Did he annoy me¹ (no answers expected)

Yes/No questions and negative statements

Negative statements: what they are/how they are formed

A negative statement is the opposite of an affirmative statement It says or means 'no and contains a negative word such as not or never [> 13.8-9] Full negative forms (do not etc) occur in formal style (written and spoken) and in emphatic speech Contracted forms (e g don t) are normal in conversational style In written contracted forms the apostrophe is used where a vowel has been omitted, so for example in the negative it will go between the n and the f, the two words of the full form did not, combine into one word didn t