56 Yes or No Questions

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Introduction

Yes or no questions are also called closed questions or polar questions because the answer to them can only be yes or no.

The answers to closed questions are called short answers.

Form

To create a closed question only auxiliary (be, have, do) or modal verbs (can, could, would…) can be used.

The yes or no questions have this structure:
Auxiliary/modal verb + subject + noun/verb + …?

We usually repeat the auxiliary or the modal verb in the short answer (it is not necessary to repeat the verb itself).

The short answers have this structure:
Yes/no + , + subject + auxiliary/modal verb (the same as the question)

Question Affirmative Short Answer Negative Short Answer
 Do you…? Yes, I do./Yes, we do. No, I don’t./No, we don’t.
 Does he…? Yes, he does. No, he doesn’t.
 Can we…? Yes, we can. No, we can’t.
 Have you got…? Yes, I have./Yes, we have. No, I haven’t./No, we haven’t.
 Has he got…? Yes, he has. No, he hasn’t.
 Would you like…? Yes, I would./Yes, we would. No, I wouldn’t./No, we wouldn’t.
 Are you…? Yes, I am. No, I‘m not.
 Were you…? Yes, I was./Yes, we were. No, I wasn’t./No, we weren’t.
 Was it…? Yes, it was. No, it wasn’t.
 Did they…? Yes, they did. No, they didn’t.

Example

  • Do you like postcards? – Yes, I do. / Yes, I like.
  • Did she go by car? – No, she didn’t.
  • Were you at the bus station yesterday? – Yes, we were.

Use

We use yes or no questions when we expect that answer will be either yes (affirmative) or no (negative).

Summary

Yes or no questions can only have yes or no as an answer.

The structure of a yes or no question is:
Auxiliary/modal verb + subject + noun/verb + …?

The structure of short answers is:
Yes/no + , + subject + auxiliary/modal verb (the same as the question)

For example:
— “Do you like cats? – Yes, I do.” = Yes/no questions are also called closed questions, and since the question has been asked with the auxiliary verb to do, the short answer will contain it.
♦ “Whose cat is this?” = Wh- questions are also called open questions because you can give an infinite number of answers.

NOTE: We can only use an auxiliary (be/have…) or a modal verb (can/could /would…) to create a yes or no question.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

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