Pengertian, Rumus dan Contoh Yes-No Question

1. Pengertian Yes-No Question

Yes-No question adalah pertanyaan yang membutuhkan jawaban yes (ya)

or no (tidak).

2. Rumus Yes-No Question

Yes-no question dapat dibuat dengan merubah declarative

sentence (statement).  kamu harus tau yang manasubject, main verb (tidak

diikuti oleh verb manapun), danhelping verb (sebelum main verb). Penjelasan

singkatnya adalah sebagai berikut. 

Komponen Penjelasan Contoh

subjectberupa noun atau pronoun yang

merupakan pelaku aksiTata, man, Reny and I, they

main verbsetelah subject dan tidak diikuti

oleh verb lain.

be (is, am, are), have, touch,

write, work, eat and drink

helping

verbsebelum main verb

be (is, am are), have, will,

can, may, should

Catatan:

Be dapat berupa main verb (linking verb) atau helping verb/auxiliary.

Sekarang masi kita lihat rumus declarative sentence:

S +/- helping verb + main verb

Contoh Declarative Sentence:

a. Caca should see the dentist as soon as possible. (Kamu harus mendatangi

dokter gigi sesegera mungkin.)

b. Zula is kindhearted young man. (Zula adalah pria muda yang baik hati.)

c. Your father works hard. (Ayahmu bekerja dengan keras)

Yang perlu dilakukan untuk membentuk yes-no question adalah

memindahkan helping verb ke depan kalimat, merubah main verb menjadi

bentuk dasar (bare infinitive), serta menambahkan question mark (tanda

tanya) di akhir kalimat:

helping verb  + S + main verb (bare infinitive)?

Namun jika kalimat tidak memiliki helping verb dan hanya berupa main

verb be, maka:

be (am/is/are/was/were) +S (+ complement) ?

Jika kalimat tidak memiliki helping verb dan bukan main verb be,

tambahkan helping verb do di depan kalimat:

do/does/did + S + main verb (bare infinitive)?

Do disini merupakan dummy auxiliary (tidak menambah makna kalimat)

namun harus disesuaikan sesuai dengansubject-verb agreement-

nya. Do untuk subject jamak (kecuali I dan you yang tetap menggunakan do)

padasimple present tense, does untuk subject tunggal pada pada simple

present tense, sedangkan did untuk subjecttunggal maupun jamak

pada simple past tense.

Contoh Yes-No Question (berdasarkan contoh declarative sentence di

atas):

a. Should Caca see the dentist as soon as possible? [should= helping verb]

b. Is Zula kindhearted young man? [is= main verb be]

c. Does your father work hard? [does= dummy auxiliary]

Jika ada dua auxiliary: hanya auxiliary yg pertama yang dipindahkan ke

depan.

Contoh Kalimat:

a. Declarative Sentence: He has been driving for an hour. (Dia sudah

mengemudi selama satu jam.)

b. Yes-No Question: Has he been driving for an hour? (Sudahkah dia

mengemudi selama satu jam?)

3. Negative Yes-No Question

Seperti affirmative yes-no question, negative yes-no question juga dimulai

dengan be atau auxiliary (do, have, will, can, should). Bedanya hanya perlu

ditambahkan not setelahnya.

Contoh Negative Yes-No Question:

a. Can’t he drive a car? (Dia tidak bisa menyetir mobil?)

b. Didn’t you see my sport shoes? (Kamu tidak melihat sepatu olahraga

saya?)

c. Isn’t the earth flat? (Bumi tidak datar?)

Lebih Banyak Contoh Yes-No Question

Beberapa contoh yes-no question adalah sebagai berikut.

Declarative Sentence Yes-No Question Keterangan

They are sleeping on the grass.

(Mereka sedang tidur di atas

rumput.)

Are they sleeping on

the grass?are= helping verb

Lala has attended the health

seminar.

(Lala telah menghadiri seminar

kesehatan tersebut.)

Has Lala attended the

health seminar?has= helping verb

He was fat. (Dia dulunya

gemuk.)Was he fat? was=main verb be

Only two workers came late.

(Hanya dua pekerja datang

terlambat.)

Did only two workers

come late?

did= dummy

auxiliary

A Yes/No question is a closed question, meaning that it has one of two

answers, yes or no. It asks whether something is true or not, i.e., whether the

original positive sentence is valid. A question element   needs to precede the

subject in order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according

to the following rule:

The Y/N Question Rule: To form a yes/no question in English, transfer

the first auxiliary verb that appears before the main verb in the positive sentence

to the position   before the subject. If there is no auxiliary verb, as in the Present

Simple and Past Simple, then you add one (in both these cases, the auxiliary verb

do).

BE

Use the verb be to ask about identity, description, location, and present or past

activities and situations.

Identity / Description

You can use be plus a noun or adjective to ask about the identity or description of

a person, place, or thing.

Am I your best friend? Yes (you are).

Is this interesting? No (it is not).

Are these islands part of

Greece?Yes (they are).

Was his idea good? No (it wasn't).

Were they happy? Yes (they were).

Location

Be plus a prepositional phrase asks about present or past location.

Am I near your house? No (you aren't).

Is he in Panamá? Yes (he is).

Are we at the border yet? No (we're not).

Was his apartment above a bakery? Yes (it was).

Were the demonstrations downtown? No (they weren't).

Current activity / situation

To ask about a current activity or situation, use the present progressive: present

tense of be + present participle (verb+ing).

Am I going with you and

Tom?Yes (you are).

Is England adopting the euro? No (it isn't).

Are we seeing a play tonight? Yes (we are).

Is she working today? No (she isn't).

Past activity / situation

To ask about a past activity or situation, use the past progressive: past tense

of be + present participle.

Was it raining? Yes (it was).

Was Anna cooking? No (she wasn't).

Were the prisoners rebelling? Yes (they were).

Were they singing? No (they weren't).

Past event

To ask about something that happened to someone or something, use the passive

voice: past tense of be + past participle (verb + ed or en):

Was he given a reward? Yes (he was).

Was I chosen? No (you weren't).

Were you driven home in a taxi? Yes (we were).

Were dinosaurs killed by meteors? No (they weren't).

HAVE

Use the verb have to ask if some action has taken place or whether somebody has

done something.

Notice that the auxiliary verb have is in the present tense* and the main verb is

always a past participle.

Has your brother left? No (he hasn't).

Have you flown

before?Yes (I have).

Has the party started? Yes (it has).

Have the guests eaten? No (they haven't).

*It is possible to ask a yes/no question with had, but this is done in very specific

situations and will be explained in a future lesson.

DO

Use the verb do to obtain facts about people, places, or things.

Do is always followed by the subject and then a verb in the infinitive without to.

Do they smoke? No (they don't).

Does Bogotá get cold? Yes (it does).

Did it work? No (it didn't).

Do flying fish really fly? No (they don't).

Does running hurt your knees? Yes (it does).

Did teaching challenge you? Yes (it did).

MODALS

Use modal verbs to obtain more information about possibilities or uncertainties.

Modals are always followed by verbs in the infinitive without to.

Can we stay? Yes (we can stay).

Could this be true? Yes (it could be true).

Should they stop? No (they shouldn't).

May I help you? Yes (you may).

Will it rain? No (it won't rain).

Would you go with

me?Yes (I would).

Remember: When asking a question with do or a modal verb, the main verb

remains in the infinitive without to.

Incorrect Correct

Do you to drink coffee? Do you drink coffee?

Does she to work here? Does she work here?

Can I to go with you? Can I go with you?

Should we to email her? Should we email her?

However, if there are two verbs in the infinitive after do, the second infinitive

must use to.

Incorrect Correct

Do you want drink

coffee?Do you want to drink coffee?

Does she like work here? Does she like to work here?

Did you need go home? Did you need to go home?

Remember: It's impossible to ask a yes/no question without an auxiliary verb.

He know your phone

number?

Does he know your phone number?

They returning today? Are they returning today?