Transcript Possible Answers

Unit 15 – Presentation 1
• What does ‘Miscellany’ mean?
“a mixture of different things”
• And what does it involve in this grammar book?
More subtle details of the English Grammar, like:
1. questions & their types, 2. the formation of verbs
with ‘be’ & ‘get’ & 3. the typical subjects and
object.
Are questions important?
Very, for they generate information & make up a
large amount of our daily discourse.
What is the main rule concerning
questions in English?
INVERSION, i.e. reversing the positions of the
helping verb and the subject of a clause/
sentence.
e.g. They are discussing last night’s events
→ Are they discussing last night’s events?
Are there any exceptions to the
inversion rule for questions?
Yes, 3:
a) In Subject Questions
b) In Indirect & Reported Questions
c) In Inverted Emphatic Forms, where inversion
does not produce actual questions.
A) What are Display Questions?
a) Yes/ No → Normal Question Type with
inversion e.g. Have you often been there?
Possible Answers: Yes/ No (short) answers mainly
e.g. Yes, I have OR No, I haven’t
BUT for the level, there are other possibilities: e.g.
Not as often as I’d like/ More often than I care to
remember/ You could say that/ etc
A) What are Display Questions?
b) Wh- Questions → Normal Question Type with
inversion, as the previous ones, but starting with a
Question word/ phrase to ask for specific
information e.g. Where did you get this?
Possible Answers: Full or short answers responding to
the type of info sought by the question word/ phrase
e.g. (here:) place/ origin → (I bought it) at the
sales/ It was a gift from Mark.
B) What are Subject Questions?
Those seeking the subject of a sentence and
therefore not forming Inversion
Form: Who/ What/ Which/ How much/ How many +
verb (in affirmative form) + rest of the sentence
e.g. Somebody gave me a tip →
Who gave you a tip?
Something was said →
What was said?
B) Possible answers to Subject Questions
Possible Answers:
By subject alone OR by subject + helping verb
e.g. Who offered you the flower? – Jason (did).
Subject Questions normally contrast with Normal
Questions (i.e. Types Aa) & Ab) of the previous
slides). Compare the following:
Something was said→ What was said? (Subject)
They said something→ What did they say? (Normal)
C) What are Direct Questions?
a) Direct Qu.’s → Display OR Normal Questions
(described previously in A & B).
e.g. Does he mean what he says?
How long have you been staying here?
C) What are Indirect Questions?
b) Indirect Qu.’s → those introduced by a phrase
(& are therefore asked indirectly)
e.g. Do you know if he means what he says?
Can you tell us how long you have been staying
here?
C) What are Reported Questions?
c) Reported Qu.’s → those in Reported Speech
(similar to Indirect ones but with ‘backshift’).
e.g. She asked (me) if he meant what he said.
She wanted to know how long we had been
staying there.
C) Answers to Indirect & Reported
Questions.
Possible Answers: various
D) What are Negative-Interrogative Qu.’s?
They are those of the form:
Inversion + not & are formed in two ways:
i) with the contracted negative form of the helping
verb inverted with the subject
e.g. Don’t you realise what’s happening?
Isn’t he aware of the implications?
ii) with normal inversion, as in questions, but adding
not after the subject (FORMAL)
e.g. Did she not anticipate the danger?
Are we not to be concerned in the negotiations?
D) How are Negative-Interrogative Qu.’s
used?
They are used to:
a) emphasise expectancy on the part of the speaker
e.g. Haven’t they announced the exam dates yet?
b) show that the person asking is fairly sure of the
answer
e.g. Weren’t you supposed to be at the office today?
c) show irony, sarcasm, exclamation, etc
e.g. Don’t you know the answer to that?
Aren’t we a little smug?
Isn’t it lovely!
D) Answers to Negative-Interrogative
Qu.’s.
Possible Answers: Yes/ No short answers,
depending on whether we agree or disagree with
the point raised
e.g. ‘Didn’t she promise to help you?’ - ‘No, she
certainly didn’t!’ (disagreeing) OR ‘Yes, of
course, she did.’ (agreeing)
& various others:
e.g. - ‘What do you think?’/ ‘I can manage
perfectly on my own.’
E) What are Question Tags?
They are short types of questions, added to the end of an
affirmative or negative statement, of the form:
Helping verb + (contracted ‘not’) + subject pronoun
• If the statement is positive (), the question tag is
negative ()-interrogative (?)
e.g. You know his wife (), don’t you? ()-(?)
• If the statement is negative, the question tag is simply
interrogative
e.g. Yes, but she doesn’t know me (), does she? (?)
E) How are Question Tags used?
They are used to:
a) ask a real question in a tentative way
e.g. You’ve met him, haven’t you?
He isn’t married, is he? OR
b) check whether a statement is true or not
(conversation-starter questions)
e.g. Well, I suppose earthquakes will happen, won’t
they?
E) Answers to Question Tags
Possible Answers: they agree with or contradict
the statement, not the question tag, i.e.
They’re coming, aren’t they? – Yes, they are.
(agreeing)/ No, they aren’t! (contradicting)
She doesn’t know we’re going, does she? – No, she
doesn’t. (agreeing)/ Of course, she does!
(contradicting)
E) Exceptional Question Tags I
Imperative
will you/ won’t you?
e.g. Get me a new
copy, will you/ won’t
you?
Negative Imperative
will you?
e.g. Don’t shout, will
you?
Special Imperative
shall we?
e.g. Let’s have a light
lunch, shall we?
There is(n’t)/ there
are(n’t)
is(n’t) there?/
are(n’t) there?
e.g. There was nobody
in to take your call,
was there?
1st person of
affirmative ‘Be’
aren’t I?
e.g. I’m a rare
specimen of gullibility,
aren’t I?
E) Exceptional Question Tags II
Demonstrative
Pronouns
is(n’t) it/ are(n’t)
they?
e.g. This was not the
final edition, was it?
Indefinite Pronouns
are(n’t) they?
e.g. Someone told him
about it, didn’t they?
Auxiliary Verb ‘Have’
have(n’t) they?
e.g. We haven’t made
any real progress,
have we?
Main Verb ‘Have’
do(n’t) they?
e.g. She still has thirty
pages to go through,
doesn’t she?
F) What are a) Standard Qu.’s & b) Qu.’s
that are not real?
a) Standard Questions → questions that anticipate a
particular answer:
They are:
• What does sb/ sth look like? → appearance
• What is sb/ sth like? → (personal) qualities
• What does sb like? → preferences
• What is sb? → nationality/ job
• What does sb do? → job/ profession/ occupation
F) What are a) Standard Qu.’s & b) Qu.’s
that are not real?
b) Questions that are not real (I) → formulaic
expressions used as niceties/ comments/ etc in
greetings/ remarks/ etc:
• How do you do? → greeting sb you meet for the first
time (Possible Answers: How do you do?/ Pleased/
Nice to meet you)
• How are you/ how are you doing/ how is it going? →
greeting sb you know (Possible Answers: (Just) fine/
Not bad thanks./ I’ve been better)
F) What are a) Standard Qu.’s & b) Qu.’s
that are not real?
b) Questions that are not real (II) → formulaic
expressions used as niceties/ comments/ etc in
greetings/ remarks/ etc:
• What’s the matter with you? → when sb is acting out
of character (usu. not expecting an answer)
• (Well, well) What do you know? → to show surprise
(but could also be ironic) (No answer is expected.)
• How should I know? → showing annoyance at sb’s
suggestion that we should know sth we don’t (usu. not
expecting an answer).
G) What are Short Responses?
Brief answers of 2 main forms:
i) For Uncertainty/ Avoidance of Repetition: with think,
believe, hope, etc + so/ not.
e.g. "Is Jacob coming?’ – ‘I think so.’/ ‘I don’t think so.’/
‘I hope not.’/ ‘I’m afraid so.’
ii) To Add Points to sb’s Words: POSITIVE: with too/
also/ as well OR so + helping verb + Subject
e.g. ‘I love fiction films.’ – ‘I do, too/ as well.’/ ‘I also
do.’/ ‘So do I’. OR NEGATIVE: with not … either OR
neither/ nor + helping verb + Subject
e.g. ‘I don’t believe his tall stories.’ – ‘I don’t, either.’/
‘Neither/nor do I’.
Are ‘be’ & ‘get’ important verbs?
Along with have, they are the most important
verbs in English because they are multi-purpose,
i.e. they are used as helping or finite verbs, in
passive/ auxiliary passive/ causative form &
causal uses, covering different meanings, etc).
How are they examined here? I
Here we’ll be discussing their ability to combine
with adjectives & adverbs to form new verbs and
how these new verbs differ when formed with
‘be’ or ‘get’. So, first and foremost, we have:
Be & Get + adj.’s/ adv.’s  new verbs
How are they examined here? II
The adjectives found here are usually words with
no corresponding verbs, though they could be
participles, too.
e.g. hungry, thirsty, afraid, frightened, etc
How are they examined here? III
As for their meaning, the ensuing verbs with be
mean that the action/ state described has
already been established, whereas with get the
meaning is starting to be(come). Therefore,
Be + hungry = πεινώ BUT Get + hungry = αρχίζω να πεινώ
Be + thirsty = διψώ BUT Get + thirsty = αρχίζω να διψώ
Be + afraid = φοβάμαι BUT Get + afraid = αρχίζω να φοβάμαι
How are they examined here? IV
The same goes for adverbs, too:
Be + away = λείπω BUT Get + away = φεύγω, απομακρύνομαι
Be + better = είμαι καλύτερα BUT Get + better = καλυτερεύω
while sometimes this practice is possible with nouns
[esp. with ‘get’ (e.g. get pains)], and adverbials/
prepositional phrases [esp. with ‘be’ (e.g. be in
pain)] & even verbs: be sleeping vs. get to sleep
What happens when the subject or object
of a verb sounds awkward in its proper
place?
English has two ways to deal with this problem:
it and there, the two introductory or typical
subjects, as they are sometimes referred to.
A) How is ‘it’ used as a typical subject? I
It’s used as such when the real subject of the
sentence is:
a) an infinitive
e.g. It is fatal to make such grave mistakes.
b) a gerund
e.g. It is no use pleading with them.
c) a noun clause (particularly a that clause)
e.g. It is important that we talk to them
tonight.
A) How is ‘it’ used as a typical subject? II
NB. Don’t mix this use of introductory ‘it’ with the
cases when it is used:
i) in place of a neutral noun mentioned before
ii) as the ordinary subject of an impersonal verb
iii) to identify a thing or person
iv) in other impersonal or emphatic constructions,
like:
e.g. It won’t be long before our plans are set in
motion. It was only yesterday he arrived.
B) How is ‘it’ used as a typical object?
After certain verbs, like: find, think, consider,
make, prefer, when the real object of the sentence
is:
a) an infinitive at the end of the sentence
e.g. You make it very easy for me to come up with
the answer.
b) a noun clause at the end of the sentence
e.g. We found it odd that he should be asking for a
leave of absence in midwinter.
C) How is ‘there’ used as a typical
subject? I
It’s used as such with intransitive verbs when the
real subject of the sentence is:
a) a noun
e.g. There came a time when it was very hard
for me to believe anything he was saying.
b) a determiner
e.g. And suddenly, there appeared something out
of nowhere.
C) How is ‘there’ used as a typical
subject? II
NB. Don’t mix this use of introductory ‘there’ with
the cases when it is used:
i) as a place adverb
e.g. Why would you want to go to Filby? There’s
absolutely nothing to do there.
ii) in exclamatory/ emphatic sentences
e.g. There goes the last train!