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

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS

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A variety of common follow-up question-types occur in speech. 

Reduced questions with wh- words

Reduced questions with wh- words and stranded prepositions (

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) are

particularly frequent:

A: Margaret wants to talk to you.

B: Oh, what about? 

(or, more formal: About what?)

A: You’re not staying in tonight, you’re going out for dinner.

B: Oh. Where to?

A: I’m not telling you, a surprise.

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The follow-up question may consist of a wh- word alone or a wh- word + a

substitute word:

A: Is he warden of the whole thing?

B: Who?

A: Doctor Thornton.

B: I don’t know.

[in a restaurant; A is the customer, B is the waiter]

A: I’ll have that one.

B: Which one?

A: The king prawn in lemon sauce.

Tag questions

The follow-up question may function as a signal of engagement and attention by the

listener. Such questions are typically tag questions. Their function is often very similar

to that of supportive responses such as uhum?, yeah? and really? (

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):

A: I went to school with her.

B: Did you?

A: Mm.

A: And on mama’s tree she’s got some raspberries and tomatoes.

B: Does she? That’s great.

The follow-up tag question may consist of a doubling of this type of structure for

emphasis, most typically with a negative clause followed by an affirmative tag, but

occasionally with two affirmatives. This usually expresses a strong reaction. A

typical intonation pattern is shown:

[talking of firms taking over other firms]

A: And they’ve taken over Walker’s too.

B: Oh they haven’t, have they?

A: He thinks you’re coming to pick him up.

B: Oh he does, does he?

A: Yeah, that’s what he said.

Follow-up tag questions in informal spoken language often simply function to

keep the conversation going by inviting further responses from the listener. A

typical intonation pattern is shown:

[talking about how quickly a popular type of cake gets eaten by family

members]

A: Have you noticed it always disappears?

B: Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?

A: I’ve got two now, yes, it does always disappear, doesn’t it?

B: Yeah.