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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Hello! Do you have a minute?
…because I want to tell you something about yes/no questions.
As you may know, a yes/no question is a question in which the expected answer is either “yes” or “no.” I just used one such question when I asked, “Do you have a minute?”
But in the real world, native English speakers might not always form questions fully1 when they speak to you. Instead, they might say something like, “You have a minute?” or even “Got a minute?”
Short questions like these are common in informal situations, especially in spoken English.
For example, “Got a Minute?” has been used as a name for website columns3 and radio shows on issues from health to career choices to saving4 money. In addition, “Got a Minute” was the name of a word game in the 1970s.
We see and hear shortened6 questions everywhere – such as in music, movies and advertisements.
A well-known example is the “Got Milk?” advertising7 campaign, which was launched8 in the 1990s and ran for 20 years. In the ad, famous actors, fashion models and musicians promoted the drinking of milk.
Today, I will show you how to shorten5 yes/no questions. Ready? Good -- because you just heard another example. And it was probably easy to guess the meaning is: Are you ready?
Forming yes/no questions
On an earlier program, we talked about how to form standard yes/no questions. Knowing this first will help you understand how to shorten them. So here’s a quick refresher:
We form most yes/no questions this way:
Auxiliary9 Verb + Subject + Main Verb
For example: Do you have a minute?
Here, the word “do” is the auxiliary verb, followed by the subject “you” and the main verb “have.”
Auxiliary verbs are often called “helping verbs.” We use them with main verbs to do things like help form questions and verb tenses.
Most standard yes/no questions begin with “do,” “be” or “have.”
But in other yes/no questions, “be” is the main verb and there is no auxiliary. We form them like this:
Be + Subject
For example: Are you ready?
Here, “be” is the main verb, followed by the subject “you.”
When we shorten yes/no questions, we usually do it in one of two ways:
drop the auxiliary / be (or)
drop the auxiliary / be and the subject.
Drop Auxiliary
Let’s first talk about dropping the auxiliary verb.
In informal situations, it is often unnecessary to use the auxiliary verbs “do,” “be” or “have” at the start of yes/no questions.
Listen to this example:
We’ve been walking for an hour.
Oh. You getting tired?
Yes, and my feet hurt.
Here, the auxiliary “be” was dropped from the start of the question “You getting tired?” The standard question would be “Are you getting tired?”
Here is another example:
The internet is not working.
The cable10 company call yet? A crew is supposed to be here by 3 this afternoon.
No, I haven’t heard the phone.
Here, the auxiliary verb “do” was dropped from the start of the question, “The cable company call yet?” The standard question would be, “Did the cable company call yet?”
Drop Auxiliary & Subject
We can make even shorter yes/no questions by dropping both the auxiliary verb and the subject. However, we can only drop the subject when the subject is “you.”
Listen to another version11 of the earlier conversation, this time without the auxiliary verb or subject “you”:
We’ve been walking for an hour.
Oh. Getting tired?
Yes, and my feet hurt.
Let me now return to something I talked about at the start of the program. You remember the questions “Got milk?” and “Got a minute?” They both start yes/no questions with the word “Got.” Such questions come from this standard form:
Do + you + have...
To shorten questions that begin with the words “Do you have…?” we often drop the auxiliary verb “do” and the subject “you.” But we take a third step: We change the main verb “have” to “got.”
So, you get questions like, “Got a pen?,” Got the time?” and the ones you heard earlier: “Got a minute?” “Got Milk?”
Drop Be
OK, let’s now move to the verb “be.”
Earlier, I told you that sometimes “be” in yes/no questions acts as the main verb, not an auxiliary. In questions where the main verb is “be” and it is present tense, we can often drop the “be” verb.
In this next exchange, the main verb “be” has been dropped from the question:
My presentation is tomorrow.
You nervous?
No, I feel great!
Again, the main verb “be” was dropped. The standard question would be, “Are you nervous?”
Drop Be & Subject
And, finally, we will look at the shortest possible form: one-word yes/no questions. We usually make them from a specific three-word structure:
Two examples are the questions “Are you ready?” and “Are you nervous?” To shorten questions like these, we drop “be” and the subject “you.”
Here’s the last exchange again, this time with both “be” and the subject “you” dropped:
My presentation is tomorrow.
Nervous?
No, I feel great!
Final thoughts
By now, you might be wondering: What if the yes/no question begins with another auxiliary verb, like “will” or “would,” or a modal auxiliary, like “should” or “might”? These verbs express tenses or meanings that are lost when they are removed. So avoid shortening13 such questions.
Well, it looks like I needed more than a minute of your time. Got another minute? If so, try the practice on our website: learningenglish.voanews.com!
I’m Alice Bryant.
Words in This Story
informal – adj. not suited for serious or official speech and writing
column2 – n. an article that appears regularly and that is written by a specific writer or deals with a specific subject
promote – v. to make people aware of something, such as a new product, through advertising
guess – v. to give an answer about something when you do not know much or anything about it
standard – adj. accepted and used by most of the educated speakers and writers of a language
tense – n. a form of a verb that is used to show when an action happened
conversation – n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people
cable – n. the wiring system that provides internet access, phone services and television channels
specific – adj. special or particular
modal – n. a verb that is usually used with another verb to express possibility, necessity, and permission
收听单词发音 |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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column
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| n.列，柱形图；专栏；圆柱；纵队 | |
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columns
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| n.柱( column的名词复数 )；纵队；栏；（舰队的）纵列 | |
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4
saving
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| n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款 | |
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shorten
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| vt.弄短，缩小，减少 | |
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shortened
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| v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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launched
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| v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等） | |
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auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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cable
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| n.缆绳，索；电缆；电报；vt.电汇，打电报 | |
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version
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| n.版本；型号；叙述，说法 | |
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adjective
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| n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的 | |
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13
shortening
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| n.缩针，简写；酥油/雪白奶油v.弄短，缩短( shorten的现在分词 ) | |
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