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

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429b on intonation and wh-questions

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Questions | 721

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ALTERNATIVE QUESTIONS

428

Alternative questions give the answerer a choice between two or more items

contained in the question which are linked by or. Alternative questions may be

yes-no

interrogatives or wh-interrogatives:

[waiter to customer, as the customer is about to be shown to a table]

A: Would you like smoking or non-smoking? 

B: Smoking please. 

A: How do you want to go to London, by coach or rail or are you driving? 

B: Erm, oh, rail would be better.

An alternative question may offer the recipient the choice of one or all of the

alternatives:

A: Do you want tea or coffee? 

B: I’d prefer a cup of coffee thank you.

A: Sugar or milk? 

B: Sugar and milk.

(choose one of tea or coffee/choose sugar, or milk, or both)

Alternative questions are often asked in reduced form in informal speech, with

just the alternatives being present:

[A is a swimming instructor, B is a pupil]

A: Right then, all go and swim whichever stroke you want to swim for two

lengths. When the first two get back to the side the next two are gonna do a

nice jump in and race. Swim back to the side. Then the next two are gonna

jump in. 

B: Length or width? 

A: Width. 

(gonna = informal ‘going to’)

[waiter to customer in a restaurant]

A: Any tea or coffee? 

B: Can I have some tea please. 

An alternative question does not normally produce yes or no as a reply, but no can

occur to emphatically negate one of the alternatives:

A: Are you actually somebody who’s working at the university or are you a

student?

B: Oh no. I’m working there. 

(I’m emphatically not a student)

[talking about a tourist trip to the Grand Canyon in the USA, starting from Las

Vegas]

A: Do they pick you up from Las Vegas or do you drive there? 

B: Oh no. You leave from Las Vegas. 

A: In a helicopter? 

B: Yeah. 

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429c on intonation and alternative questions

722 | Questions 

Cambridge Grammar of English

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