BEGINNER ENGLISH Lesson 05
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The Verb BE – Asking Questions
There are two categories of questions.
1. Yes/No Questions
2. Information Questions
Lesson 5 – Asking Yes/No Questions
To ask a Yes/No Question using the verb be, “flip” the order of the subject and the verb from what they are in statements.
For example:
STATEMENT
You are Canadian.
YES/NO QUESTION
Are you Canadian?
REMEMBER: If you don’t know the meaning of a word, look it up in a dictionary or use Google Translate.
VERB (BE) – YES/NO QUESTIONS
Basic Question Structure Using the Verb (be)
VERB (be) + SUBJECT (pronoun) + [proper noun, or adjective]
1st person – singular
Am I late?
1st person – plural
Are we early?
2nd person – singular or plural
Are you Canadian?
3rd person – singular
Is he | she | it nice?
3rd person – plural
Are they ready?
TEST YOURSELF
TEST YOURSELF
PRONUNCIATION TIP
In spoken English:
- for a YES/NO question the voice goes UP in pitch (rises) at the end of the question
- for an INFORMATION question the voice goes DOWN in pitch (drops) at the end of the question