Nowadays, knowledge of foreign languages is almost the most important indicator of success in the professional field. English is practically no longer a foreign language. Possession of it is considered necessary and natural, but for its successful use basic knowledge is needed. Alternative questions is just one of these topics.
Introduction
There are five main types of questions in English:
- general;
- special;
- a question to the subject and its definition;
- alternative;
- dividing.
In order to fully understand what constitutes an alternative question, we must know the structure and features of using a general and special question.
General question
Speaking of questions in English, we need to understand that general and alternative questions are very similar in design. The general type is constructed using the auxiliary verb do / does , which is put in the first place in the sentence.
For example, a sentence:
- Our teacher speaks English (Our teacher speaks English) .
We ask him a general question and get:
- Does our teacher speak English? .
When composing sentences, we use the modal verbs can (could) , may (might), must, shall (should), will (would) , then at the beginning of the interrogative sentence we put it:
- I can read in English. - Can I read in English?
Special issue
Special is a question that is asked with a special question word:
- what? - what? which one?
- why? - why?
- where? - where? where to?
- how? - as?
- how long? - how long?
- which? - which the?
- who? - who?
- when? - when?
In drawing up such a design, a special word is put in first place, and in the end we get a question that gives color to the ongoing action:
- What do you do? - What are you doing?
- How long does it last? - How long does it last?
Etc.
Separated question
Separation - this is a question with an ending that repeats an auxiliary or modal verb, but with the opposite main coloring. Moreover, the first part of the construction is an affirmative sentence with a direct word order.
Such questions often indicate insecurity or doubt about something. A "tail" is usually translated as "unless" or "right." The answer to disjunctive questions is a combination of the subject and the auxiliary or modal verbs. For instance:
- We should go home and prepare for the coming holidays, shouldn'd we? - Yes, we should (We have to go home and get ready for the upcoming weekend, right? - Yes, right).
- Agnes is ready to be introduced to my parents, isn't she? - No, she is not. You don’t know each other well enough for this (Agnes is ready to be introduced to my family, right? - No, not right. You do not know each other well enough for this).
- They did so much for our child, aren't they? - Yes, they are! Our boy is alive only because of them (They have done so much for our child, haven't they? - True, our boy is alive, only thanks to them).
Alternative / disjunctive questions are not very similar to each other, but to understand the first, we need to find out what forms of questions are still in English.
What is an alternative question?
We have already said this, but we will repeat it again. The alternative question is actually a general question, but with a slight caveat: in it, of course, an alternative must be present.
That is, an alternative question is a question that involves the selection of one of the proposed options, whether it be an object or an action. A feature of this design is also that it does not allow an unambiguous answer: “yes” or “no” and requires actual confirmation of its choice. An alternative question is good in that it can apply to any member of a sentence.
For instance:
- Do you want coffee or tea? - Do you want coffee or tea?
- Does she learn English or Chinese? “Does she learn English or Chinese?”
Speaking about another important component of any issue - intonation - we note that in the first part of the sentence (before the union or ) it is ascending, and in the second - descending.
How to form an alternative question?
As they say, to make alternative questions is not very difficult. This type of question, like others in the English language, is formed using inversion - changing the order of words in a sentence. In the first place, as in the general question, the auxiliary verb do (I, you, we, they) or does (he, she, it) is put , followed by the subject + predicate + addition 1 + union or + addition 2.
For example, take as a basis the proposals made up of two general questions:
- Does he want to do his homework or does he want to play any computer game? “Does he want to do his homework, or does he want to play some kind of computer game?”
- Will you go to the cafe or will you join me? “Will you go to the cafe or will you join me?”
- Should we bring flowers or should we bring a present? - Should we bring flowers or should we bring a gift?
Now we remove the first part of one of the general questions and at the output we get the classic alternative:
- Does he want to do his homework or to play any computer game? “Does he want to do his homework or play some computer game?”
- Will you go to the cafe or join me? “Will you go to the cafe or join me?”
- Should we bring flowers or should we bring a present? - Should we bring flowers or a present?
As you can see, the alternative question is the same general question, but with the suggested options. Although in some cases the second option can be replaced by a not . For instance:
- Are you going to join us or not? “Are you going to join us or not?”
- Can you hear me or not? “Can you hear me or not?”
- Will we make more cookies or not? - Will we make more cookies or not?
We have already said that monosyllabic answers such as “yes” or “no” are unacceptable when answering alternarive questions, so the answer should contain part of it. For instance:
- Do you like swimming or diving? - Swimming (Do you like swimming or diving? - Swimming).
- Should we tell our teacher about the accident or my mother? - Of course, our teacher! (Should we tell our teacher or my mom about the incident? - Of course, our teacher!)
- Are he going to go to bed or to play tennis? - To play tennis (Is he going to go to bed or play tennis? - Play tennis).
If we ask a question to the subject, then we must use an auxiliary or modal verb in the answer. For instance:
- Do you like orange juice or does your brother? - My brother does (Do you like orange juice or your brother? - My brother).
- Must I pass these exams or must all of us? - I suppose, all of you must (Do I or we all have to pass these exams? - I assume that you are all).
- Will you go with grandmother or will I? - I will, don't worry (Will you go with grandma or me? - I will, don’t worry).
Sometimes alternative questions may consist of special question words and other sentence members and may mean a special question. In this case, a colon is usually required when writing them, and the answer will not be too long provided that it does not contain an explanation. For instance:
- Where are you going: to the cinema or to your home? - Home, I should prepare for my final exams (Where do you go: to the movies or home? - Home, I should prepare for the final exams).
- How was that party: awful or unbelievably awful? - Actually, it was great. Because you were not there (How was the party: awful or incredibly awful? - Actually, great. Because you were not there).
- What is it: meat of fish? - I hope meat. I don't eat fish (What is it: meat or fish? - I hope that meat. I do not eat fish).
Conclusion
We have provided enough examples of alternative questions to help you understand what these questions are, how to compose them and how to answer them correctly. To consolidate the result, we recommend that you complete several tasks on alternative questions in order to fully understand this topic. Good luck!