Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Questions | 717

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A: Well Section Eleven says ‘We look at whether it was reasonable to

incorporate the term’. 

So we do look at the time of the contract

. 

But what

specific criteria do they take into account?

B: Is it, erm, bargaining power? 

A: 

They certainly look at bargaining power

. There’s no doubt. 

But what else?

C: Erm, insurance? 

A: 

They look at who’s the best insurer

. 

In display questions in media interviews (e.g. a TV interview with a politician), the

questioner typically does not follow up in this way, and listeners are left to make

their own evaluation of the answer.

YES-NO QUESTIONS

426

Yes-no

questions are one of the most common question forms. The reply either

affirms or negates the proposition of the question. The reply may simply be yes or

no

, or yes/no plus some sort of elaboration, or simply an implied yes or no.

Variants of yes and no in informal spoken language include yeah, mm, okay, yep,

and nah, nope:

A: Is that all right?

B: Yeah.

A: Are you sure?

B: Yes.

A: Are there any shops nearby? 

B: Yes. Shops, yes. The village centre is about a hundred metres away I should

say. And there’s a shop across the road as well. 

[in a camera shop; a cable release is a cable which enables the camera to be

operated from a distance]

A: I’ve got a Nikon F70 and I wanted a cable release for it. 

B: Erm, is it the remote one? 

A: Mm. Believe so. 

A: There’s a nice yachting centre at West Ranby. 

B: Oh is there? 

A: Yep, yep.

A: Would you like to hear the CD?

B: Okay. 

A: Can you remember which company it was?

B: No.

[trying to identify a travel brochure]

A: Was it a white cover?

B: No, no, it was something like that holiday one there. Brown, and it had

holidays to Prague and Vienna, it had holidays to Bulgaria, it was Eastern

Europe, I expect. 

718 | Questions 

Cambridge Grammar of English

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A: Are you coming round for coffee tomorrow? 

B: Erm, I’m here on my own. 

A: Oh are you. 

B: So I can’t get round. Unless you want to call here. 

(implied no)

The reply to a yes-no question may consist of an affirmative or negative response

tag instead of yes or no:

A: Did you break it?

B: I did. I pressed the yellow button.

A: Did you say ‘I told you so?’

B: I didn’t. I didn’t. A gentleman never does that sort of thing [laughs].

The reply may contain repeated elements of the question which imply a yes or no:

A: Are you rushing about again?

B: I’m always rushing about, I really am.

(implied yes)

Yes-no

questions in informal conversation may end with or …, which has the

effect of reducing any suggestion of pre-judgement of the answer on the part of the

asker. This use of or … may be compared to question tags (

Û

300 and 431

):

A: Did you go into hospital immediately or …?

B: I did.

A: Did you reply to the letter when you got it at all or …?

B: No.

Û

292a for the structure of yes-no questions