What does ‘miscellany’ mean?

What kind of ‘miscellany’ does this grammar unit involve?

Questions are not very important in communication.

Right answer: they are very important because they provide information & make up a large amount of everyday

discourse

The main rule governing questions in English is ‘inversion’.

Inversion means ‘reversing the positions of any two terms in a sentence’.

Right answer: reversing the positions of the helping verb & the subject ONLY

What exceptions are there to the ‘inversion’ rule for questions?

A) What are Display Questions?

Possible Answers: Yes/ No (short) answers mainlye.g. Yes, I have OR No, I haven’tbut at this level there could be others.

A) What are Display Questions?

Possible Answers: Full or short answers responding to the type of info sought by the question word/ phrase

B) What are Subject Questions?

Possible Answers: By subject alone OR by subject + helping verb

Form: Who/ What/ Which/ How much/ How many + verb (in affirmative form) + rest of the sentence

B) Subject vs. Normal Questions

Compare:

Something was said.

What was said?

Something was said.

What was said?

They said something.

What did they say?

They said something.

What did they say?

C) What are Direct Questions?

C) What are Indirect Questions?

C) What are Reported Questions?

Possible Answers to Indirect & Reported Questions: can be various

D) What are Negative-Interrogative Questions?

i) with the contracted negative form of the helping verb inverted with the subject

ii) with normal inversion, as in normal questions, but adding not after the subject (FORMAL)

D) How are Negative-Interrogative Questions used?

a) to emphasise expectancy on the part of the speakerb) to show that the person asking is fairly sure of the answerc) to show irony, sarcasm, exclamation, etc

D) Negative-Interrogative Questions: possible answers

Yes/ No short answers, depending on whether we agree or disagree with the point raised

& various others.

E) What are Question Tags?

• positive statement (), negative ()-interrogative (?) question tag &• negative () statement, simply interrogative (?) question tag

E) How are Questions Tags used?

a) to ask a real question in a tentative way (rising intonation!)

b) to check whether a statement is true or not (conversation-starter questions – falling/ flat intonation!)

E) Question Tags: possible answers

they agree with or contradict the statement, not the question tag

E) Exceptional Question Tags I

Imperative will you/ won’t you?

e.g. Get me a new copy, will you/ won’t you?

Negative Imperative will you? e.g. Don’t shout, will you?

Special Imperative shall we? e.g. Let’s have a light lunch, shall we?

There is(n’t)/ there are(n’t)

is(n’t) there?/ are(n’t) there?

e.g. There was nobody in to take your call, was there?

1st person of affirmative ‘Be’

aren’t I? e.g. I’m a rare specimen of gullibility, aren’t I?

E) Exceptional Question Tags II

Demonstrative Pronouns

is(n’t) it/ are(n’t) they?

e.g. This was not the final edition, was it?

Indefinite Pronouns are(n’t) they? e.g. Someone told him about it, didn’t they?

Auxiliary Verb ‘Have’

have(n’t) they? e.g. We haven’t made any real progress, have we?

Main Verb ‘Have’ do(n’t) they? e.g. She still has thirty pages to go through, doesn’t she?

F) a. Standard Questions are those that anticipate a particular answer.

They are:• What does sb/ sth look like? → appearance• What is sb/ sth like? → (personal) qualities• What does sb like? → preferences• What is sb? → nationality/ job• What does sb do? → job/ profession/ occupation

F) b. ‘Questions that are not real’ are formulaic expressions used as niceties & comments.

• How do you do? → first-time greeting• How are you/ how are you doing/ how is it going? → greeting sb you know• What’s the matter with you? → asked when sb is acting out of character• (Well, well) What do you know? → surprise/ irony• How should I know? → annoyance at sb’s suggestion that we should have the answer

G) What are Short Responses?

Why are ‘be’ & ‘get’ important verbs?

Which of their (many) uses is dealt with here?

‘Be’ & ‘Get’ form & meaning

So, can you tell the difference between:

Is the same practice possible with adverbs, nouns & (sometimes other) verbs?

What happens when the subject or object of a verb sounds awkward in its proper place?

How is ‘it’ used as a typical subject?

What mustn’t we mix typical-subject ‘it’ with?

How is ‘it’ used as a typical object?

How is ‘there’ used as a typical subject?

What mustn’t we mix typical-subject ‘there’ with?

Can you think of an example when ‘there’ could also be used as a typical object?