negative questions

Lecture No. 14
Negative questions
B. Form
We make a question negative by putting n t after the auxiliary (e.g have, does
POSITIVE
Have you done it yet? What does the advert tell you? Who eats meat? What went wrong ?
NEGATIVE
Haven t you done it yet? What doesn t the advert tell you? Who doesn t eat meat? What didn t go wrong ?
C. The use of negative yes/no questions
A negative yes/no question often expresses surprise .
Haven t you put those shelves up yet? (= I am surprised that you haven t yet.) Don t the children want the ice-cream? (= I am surprised that they don t want it .)
A question with can t can be a complaint or an impolite request . Can t you sit down? You re blocking my view .
We can also use a negative yes/no question instead of a statement and a tag.
Aren t you a friend of Harriet s? (= You re a friend of Harriet s, aren t you ?
D. Yes/no answers
The answer yes means that the positive is true, and no means that the negative is true.
Haven t you repaired the car yet? ~ Yes, I did it yesterday. Haven t you repaired the car yet? ~ No, sorry. I haven t had time .
E. The use of negative wh-questions.
We can use Why don t...? for a suggestion .
Why don t you put the shelves up now? ~ Well, all right .
Why don t we sit on the balcony? ~ Good idea . We can use Why didn t...? to criticize.
We ll have to stand now. Why didn t you book seats for us? (= You should have booked seats for us. We can also use a wh-question to ask for information . Who hasn t checked their baggage in? ~ Oh, I haven t. Sorry. What don t you understand? ~ This paragraph here .

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Exercises
Negative yes/no questions
What would you say in these situations? Use negative yes/no questions
? You are surprised to learn that Rita doesn t like football. Don t you like football, Rita ?
1.You find it surprising that Melanie can t drive. ................................ .
2.It s a surprise that Rachel won t be at the disco ? ............................................
3.You find out that surprisingly Nick hasn t got a television. .........................................
Negative yes/no questions
Complete the conversations using the words in the brackets.
? Mike: I walked home from the town centre, (take / bus)
Harriet: You mean you walked all the way? Didn t you take a bus?
1.Vicky: I think I d like to lie down for a while, (feel / well )
Rachel: Oh, dear. ................................................................................................................................
2.Matthew: I m looking forward to gettin g the photos you ve sent, (arrive / yet .
Richard: I sent them a week ago ..........................................................................................................
3.David: I saw Rita, but she walked straight past me. (say / hello)
Melanie: Without speaking to you ? .....................................................................................................
4.Andrew: I never sit by the pool. I hate water, (swim )
Emma: Really ? ...................................................................................................................................
Yes/no answers
Put in yes or no.
? Didn t Mike stop and give you a lift? ~ No, he didn t, but maybe he didn t see me .
1.Aren t you tired after working all day? ~..................... ,1 feel fine .
2.Didn t you write the number down? ~.................. , but I ve lost the piece of paper .
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