Questions: Yes/No

In these questions, the auxiliary verb and the ACTOR change places. For instance,

STATEMENT:             You are a doctor.

Yes/No QUESTION:     Are you a doctor?

So, you are becomes are you.

Let’s look at some more examples:

STATEMENTS                                                             YES / NO QUESTION

1. This is a car.                                                                                 Is this a car?
2. I am a teacher.                                                                            Am I a teacher?
3. The court will take cognizance.                                          Will the court take cognizance?
4. Paracetamol prevents release of prostaglandins.       Does paracetamol prevent release of                                                                                                                          prostaglandins?
5. Beta inhibitors may lead to dizziness.                               Do beta inhibitors lead to dizziness?

NOTE: ‘Prevents’ is an action word (and not a state word). An action word is when you DO something like ‘stand’, ‘sit’, ‘run’, ‘sleep’, and so on.

The state verbs are those that represent the state of affairs. For instance, ‘angry’, ‘happy’, ‘red’, ‘blue’, etc are the state verbs.

In sentences with action verbs, the Yes/No Question needs to have the do-verb before the actor. The do-verb is dropped in the sentences.

So, you don’t say

                                    I do play cricket.

Unless you wish to stress on it. You simply say:

                                    I play cricket.

The Yes/No Question formed from this statement therefore reads thus:

                                    Do you play cricket?

TAKE A QUIZ