How to ask a question in English? It seems that it is very simple, but beginners do not always cope with this task. The fact is that it’s not enough to understand what you need to ask, you still need to do it correctly in terms of grammar. In fact, it is not so difficult if you understand the general principles of constructing interrogative sentences.
Classification
In English, several types of questions are traditionally distinguished.
- Common. The answer to it will be consent or refusal. Reverse Word Order: Do you work in the office?
- Special. This uses interrogative wh-words. Where do you work?
- Separating. In this case, the proposal is divided into two parts: statement + question. Sometimes this type is also called "with a tail." When translating, the ending is usually conveyed with the phrase “right?”: You work in the office, don't you?
- Indirect. This type has a special structure. It has a direct word order, and he is considered a more polite and formal form of communication: I wonder, if you work in the office.
- Alternative. Finally, this type implies a choice between two or more mutually exclusive options: Do you work in the office or at home?
It is an alternative type of question today that will be considered in more detail. In a school English course, it is rarely attracted attention, and even in such a seemingly simple construction it is not so difficult to make mistakes. And although this does not happen so often, it is interesting and useful to know some of the subtleties of foreign speech - in the future it increases the level of language proficiency, which allows you to speak it as well as its speakers do.
Alternate Type Features
We often have to make choices or offer them to others. As their name implies, alternative questions in the English language carry this function. As a rule, they contain two components, that is, two approximately equivalent possibilities are offered to choose from.
Like almost all other questions, this kind of inverse word order is inherent, that is, the subject comes after the predicate or the linking verb. By the way
sometimes there are designs that combine the features of several types.
What do you like: tea or coffee?Alternatives and complex grammatical constructions can be used to associate alternative questions in English with the predicate: Do you prefer playing the piano or reading books? In any case, the sentence will contain the union or .
The unequivocal answer “yes” or “no” is not applicable in this case. This is the difference of this type. The response replica should be grammatically complete. In colloquial speech, it is possible to simply say "Reading books" , although this will not be correct.
As for the use of the construction in oral speech, alternative questions in the English language have a fairly well-established pattern of intonation. Traditionally, the voice is raised before or , sometimes putting emphasis on the union itself and the second part, and at the end of the sentence, and especially on the last stressed syllable, the tone goes down.
Education
As it has already become clear, alternative questions in English are built on the principles of common, but they connect several options, one of which will serve as a possible answer. As a rule, the second part is incomplete, since a complex construction with a common predicate is omitted.
Its layout is something like this:
Connecting verb + subject + predicate + option 1 or option 2?
As an answer, you can apply the sentence according to the following scheme:
Subject + predicate + option 1 (2).
If both of the proposed features are not suitable, then the reaction will be as follows:
None of it + subject + predicate + option 3.
To build alternative questions in English is possible to the subject. This option sounds a little strange, but grammatically remains true:
Bundle + subject 1 + predicate + or auxiliary verb + predicate 2?
Examples
Do you drive the car or does your husband?
Is Ann here or is Jenny?
The main thing in this case is not to forget about the auxiliary verb in front of the second subject. The answer to a question of this design can be short:
My husband does.
Ann is.
Researching a theory can be extremely fun, but learning a language is impossible without a constant and varied practice. The same applies to the development of the topic of "alternative issues". English offers a large number of options for conveying a particular thought, but what about Russian? Translators are primarily interested in adequacy and semantic equality. So what is the best way to reproduce this type of question so that it doesn't lose meaning?
Broadcast in Russian
Usually there are no problems with this. Despite the fact that alternative questions in English, unlike Russian, use the reverse word order in their design, translation rarely causes difficulties. The union or successfully replaces "or":
Do you work in the office or at home?
What do you like: tea or coffee?
Do you prefer to play the piano or read books?
Do you drive a car or your husband?
Is Ann or Jenny there?
Obviously, the constructions of such questions are similar in both Russian and English, except for the absence in the latter of verb-connectives in such an explicit form. By the way, here they are of the same type - they are also called alternative. So the idea that all languages are related in some way may not be meaningless.