OXFORD LEARNER''''S GRAMMAR 2 ppsx

Questions and answers 19 Answering questions ?R A How long should an ans wer be? Some question s can be answered in a word or phrase, but for others you need one or more complete sente nces., Here are some examp l es from real co nversation s. Didn't you hear abolilche bank robbcl y?- No. I've gal a hac. '" What c%ur?'" BrauJII . Do you like sc hool? - Yes , I do. It's OK. /l ow long do you pract ise? '" About /Jalf all /J our. How is Lucy? S /J e's a laC better fl OW. In fact I think she'll be back at . school next week. Why did you sell lil e car? '" It was gilli llg me too mu ch tr oub le. I was spend ing more money on it Ihan it was worth spending money Oil. It is usually enough 10 give the rele van t piece of information wit hout rep ea ting all t he words of the ques tion. There is no need 10 say No, I didn't Ilear aboUllhe bank robbery or fh e haL is brown in answer to these qu estion s. NOTE People sometim es gIve an indirect ;lJlswer or avoid answering the qUl :s tuJIl . Wl ua lime will yO/~ he I)(u ;k i'- We ll, the$e me etings sometimes go 1m/or I lOurs . Are you (I. member of tllis club?- Why do yo" ask? B Yes/no short answers We can sometimes answer wi th a si mple yes or no, but English speake rs often use a 'short answer ' like Yes, I do or Nu, we haven 'c. A shon an swer relates to the subject and aUxiliary verb of the question. A positive answer is yes + pronoun + auxiliary. A n egat ive an swer is ' /0 + pro n oun + auxiliary + 11 ' 1. Is it raining? Have you finished? Can your sister swim? Positive Yes , it is. Yes , I have . Yes, she call. Negative No. it isn't. No, I ha ve,,'t. No, she can't . In si mpl e tenses we use the auxiliary verb do. Do YOll play lit e piano? Did we do Ow righl thing? Positive Yes, I do. Yes, we did . Negative No, I don 't. No, we did" 'to In this examp le, Ihe question has be as an ordinary verb. Positive Negative Are you in a !wr/:V? Yes, I am. No. I'm not . 19 Answering quest io ns We can some ti mes use another phrase or clause instead of yes or 110. Am I ill the l eam?", Ojcourse (y ou are). Were youlale? ,J'm afraid I was. Does the jacket go wilh Ihe sh irl? , I think it does. We often add information or comment after a simple yes or tlO or after a short an~wer. Were you late? v Yes, J missed the bus. Did Carl gel the job? -N o, he didn't, unfortunately. /-lave you. read this book?, " Yes, r halle. I really enjoyed it. TIP In some situations it can seem abrupt or unhelpful to simply answer Yes or Yes, it is. In a friendly conversation, it is better to add something relevant to keep the conversation going. Is this CD player new. - Yes, it is. J bought it last week. NOTE a The full form 11m In a short answer is [onnul or emphatic. Was (he sd/eme a S/.Icce:-,s? ~ No, it was IIot . It W(u a complete failure. b We can u .') e a shOl1 answer to agree or dl s< lg rce with <.l st,H cm ent. Agreemg . These photos are good. "" Yes, riley are. II doesn't feel very /lJarm. ~ No, it doe.m't. Disagreeing: J posted the leller. ~N(J, you didn't . /l's still 011 the table We c(m't afford (l car. '" Yes, we call, If Wf' borrow tile mOlley c We can use a pronoun + aUXi liary whpn we answer a wh-qucst. IOJI. Who filled lhis crossword 111" "-' I did . C Requests, offers, invitations, and suggestions We cannot usually answer t hese with a short answ er such as Yes, yuu can or Yes, I would. Can I use your phone, plea.se?, ". Sure.lO[ course_ Would you like a chocolare?, Yes, please, Thank you. Would YOIl . like to co me to my parry?, Yes, I'd love to_ Thank you very much. Shall we l uwe a coffee?",C ood idea. rYes, wily not? A n ega tive answer to a request, invitation or s uggestion ne eds some explanation. ("m r use your phone, please?"",Sorry, someone' f '(Sing it. at the moment. Wuuld you like to come !O my party on. Sat urday ? -I'm sorry. I'd like to, but {'m goillg to be away this weekend . S hall we haw a coffee?", I've just had one, but you go ahead. 29 Que stions and answers 20 Question tags -+ Audio A The form of a negative tag :0 The form of a tag depends on the subject and auxiliary of the main clause: /l 's . , isn'l it? The s lm cture of a nega ti ve tag is auxiliary + n't + pronoun. It's raining, isn't it ? You 've finished now, hav en' t you? Th e others can go, can't they? In simple tenses we use t he aux jli ary verb do. Louise works at the hospital, do es n't sh e? You came h ome lat e, didn 't you? In these examples the main clause has the ordinary ve rb be, It's co lder today, isn', it? Those sausages were ni ce, weren't they? Art er I am or I'm the lag is aren't T? I'm ulte, aren't I? NOTE A negative tag occas i ona ll y has the full form 'lOt In stead of ,,' t. Nol co mes af ter the prono un . Progr ess is bcHig made, is it not? This s l. ruclUre is used in a formal style or 10 add emphasi s. B The form of a positive tag A po sitive tag is like a negative on e, but without n 'l. It is n 't raifling, is it? You have,,'t finish ed, /rave you? These beans do n', taste very nice, do th ey? C More details about the pronoun We ca n use the su bj ect th ere in a tag. There were lots of people at the carnival, weren't there? But we do not use this, that, these or those in the tag, We use it or ch ey instead. 11wt !Va s lucky. wasn't it? Th ese plates aren't very expensive, are they? If the subject is a word ending in -one or -body (e .g. anyone. nobody), we use Ih ey in a t ag. Anyone could ju st walk in her e, co uldn't th ey? Nobody lik es go ing to the dentist, do th ey? If the subject is a word end ing in -thi"g, we use it in a tag. So me lh illg/e ll aUla/your bag. didn 'l il ? 20 Question t ag s o Summary of structures with tags OFF TO A USTRALIA lames: It's colder today, isn't il l Ti m: Yes, it's not lIery warm, is it? But I'll be off to Australia s oon , as usual. Jam es: Lucky yo u. You go there every year, do you ? Tim: Yes, I always spend our winter in Sydney. lames: You gee che best of both worlds, don't you? There are thr ee main structures. Positive statement + nega tiv e tag: Nega ti ve stateme nt + pos iti ve tag: Po siti ve statement + positive tHg : NOTE for tags with th e imp erative and let's. >lIE-F. II 's your birthday, isn't it? > E Il isn't your birthday, is it ? > F It's your birthday, is it? > G E Positive statement + negative tag Audio This kind of tag as ks the hearer to agree th at the sta tem ent in the main clause is true. rt is sometimes obvious that the stat em ent is true . For example, in the conversation in D, both James and Tim know that it is colder today. In the sentence It's colder coday, isn't it? th e tag is nut rea lly a re qu est for information. It is an invitation to the hearer to res pond . It's cold, isn't it ?- 1t' s freezing. I sh ou ld ha ve put a coat on. You 're Italian, aren't you?- Yes, I come from Milan. I'm staying here with so me frie nd s. We can u se a tag in a reply. It's not so warm today. - No, it's freezing, isn't it? Here the tag expresses agreement. We do not need to reply to it. Wh en the statement is cl ea rl y true, a falling intonation is used on the ta g. /t 's cold, isn't it ? Co a/fires are nice, aren't they? Bur when the spea ker is not sure if th e sta teme nt is true, the voice ca n rise on the ta g. You'll be back in the spring, ,. won " you ? We' re going the rig ht way, ,. aren't we? '" I hop e so. In the second example the speak er can choo se a rising intonation in order 10 ask for reassurance. NOTE Sometimes a tag with a ri sing intonation can expre ss surprise. They have central heating, do,,'t ril ey ? Everyone has cen tral heating nowadays. Compare Don 'l they haw cen/rat heating?, which aJ so expresses s u r pri s~ . > 18A 31 Questions and answers 32 F Negative statement + positive tag -+ Audio This struc tur e is used mostly in the s ame way as the examples in E. The tag invites the hearer lO res pond . Co mpare the'se sentences. /t 's co lder, iSIl 't it ? It isn't so warm, is il? With both nega ti ve and pos iti ve tags, th e vo ice falls when it is obvious that the stateme nt is tru e. In these exa mpl es with a rising intonation, t he speaker expresses suspicion or disapproval by inviting the hearer to confirm or deny something. You didn't make a scene, did you? -N o, of course I didn ' t. You aren 't staying in bed ail day, are you? The second example means 'I hope you aren't staying in bed all da y.' We can also use the structure with a rising intonation to ask a tentative question or make a tentative re que s t. You hallen't heard the test results, have you ?-N o, sorry, I haven't. You cou ldn' t lend me ten pounds, could you ? '" Yes , OK. A negative statement can have a negative word other than not . There's been no news yet, has there? You nev er: tell me anything, do you? G Positive statement + positive tag -+ Audio This structure has a differe nt m ea ning to the examples with a negati ve s tatement or a nega ti ve tag. Look at this p ar t of the conversation in D. Jame s: I'll be off to Australia soon, as usual. Tim: You go there every year, do you? Tim realizes from Jame s's words (as usuafJ that J ames goes every year. The information is new to him. He is expressing interest and in vi ting James [0 continue the conv er sation and give him more details. Tim's words mean 'Oh, so you go there eve ry year.' Here are some more examples. I've got no time at the moment . , You're busy, are you ? - Very busy, I'm afraid. ViC kY doesn 't live here any more. '" Oh, 'she's moved, has she? , , She moved out a bout a month ago. In th e sec ond exam ple she's mOl/e d, has she? mean s th at I r ea li ze she h as mo ved but I would like you to confirm this and perhaps te ll me mor e. Compare the positive and negative tags. We can't move this cupboard., ,.lt 's h eallY , isn't it ? I tri ed to lift it, but I couldn' t. Here the s econd speaker already knows that it is heavy. BUI in the fo ll ow ing ex ampl e, the information that it is heavy is new to the second speaker. We can't move this cupboard. -It' s heall Y. is it? / was afraid it might be. 21 Echo questions and echo tags NOTE a 111 infurmal speech a statement tag is somet1mes us ed after a po siti ve Statement. Yuu're crazy, YOII are. That was great, that was . Jt makes me mati, it does The tag adds emphasis to the statement. b A positive statemenl + positive rag is nol used in Ame ri can Enghsh. 21 Echo questions and echo tags A Echo questions We can use an echo question when we do not understand what someone says. or we find it hard to believe. I often eat bies of wood. ~ What do you eat?/You eat what? My father knew Bill Clinton. - Who did he know?/ J-I e knew who? Did you see the naked /ody? - Did I see the what? The seco nd speaker is asking the first (Q repeat the important information. The voice rises on the question word. , What have they done? They've done " what? NOTE We can use a Slatelllcm with rising intonation to check that we heard correc.:t ly. I often ear bilS of wood You ear bits of wood? B Echo tags Audio We form an echo tag lik e a question tag. A positive statem ent is followed by a positive tag, and a negative stat ement is followed by a negative tag. We're moving hou se soon. - Oh, are you? . The team played brilliantly. -Did they really? My sister isn't very well. , " I sn't she? I'm sorry to hear that. The children can't swi m Ca n't they ? These tags express interest in what someone has just said. The voice ri ses. Oh, are you? Did th ey" r ea ll y? Now look at these exampl es. We're moving house SOOIl."'" You aren't , ar e you? The children ca n 't sw im They can, can't they? Max won th e prize. He did" 't, did he? The last example expresses surprise or disbelief. The speaker didn't expect Max to win [he prize. We can use a negative tag in reply to a positive statement. • That was great Yes, waslI't it? /t 's a lovely day. '" It is, isn" it ? The team played brilliantly. - Yes, didn't they? In the last example. both spea kers saw the team and agree that they played very well. 33 Leaving out and replacing words 22 Avoidance of repetition A In this conv~rsat ion Mary 's friends are talking abollt her new glasses. 34 MARY 'S GLASSES Sarah: Tom: Simon: Tom: Simon: Mary's got a new pair of glasses, look, Do es she look different to before? No, J wouldn'r say so, They're very nice. I like them. I rather like chern, yes. 1 think chey suit you extremely well. Susan: I chink they're good. Simon: Tom: Mary: Susan: Tom: Simon: Mary: Very nice. Yes : are they a bit bigger than your prem'ous ones? Mm. quite a lot. l prefer rhem to the last. ones. Yes, I think they're nice. They're a different shape, definitely. Yes, they're very circular. The olher ones were a bit more - were lhey a Vil more square? Yes , tha.t's right. And these are photochromic. In many of these sentences, some words are left out or replaced by a pronoun. We do this to avoid repeating a wo rd when it is not necessary to repeat' it. For example, the topic of the conversation is Mary's glasses, so there is no need to keep repeating the word glasses. Sentence I like them . And th ese are pholOchramic. Very ni ce. r would'l', say so. That's right. Meaning I like the glasses. And these glasses an i photochromic. The glasses are very nice. I wouldn't say that she looks different. That the other ones were a bit more square is right. 23 Replacmg and leav ing out nouns NOTE So mellmes we ca n Icave OU I or rep la ce wo rd s Ihal come later in the senlencc. If you WI1n( 10. yo u Cl m pay by credit (.1m/. (= If yo u want to pay by credit card . . . ) After he had been gi ve " oxygen, rh e patient re covered (= After the patient had been given oxygen, . . ) Here he refers forwards to the paciem, whi ch comes laler in the sent t' nce B It is not always possible to avoid rep etition. We sometimes need to repeat a word to make the meaning clear. I bought a book and a CD yesterday. I've got the book here, but I can't remember where I pUl the CD . We cannot u~e it instead of the book or the CD because we need to make clear which one we are talking about. It is sometimes more helpful to repeal things because it makes the meaning easier to understand. After aboll/ half a mil e you'll see a school on the lefl. Tum right just after the school. We can also repeal words for emphasis. This ja cket is COllon, the b es t cotton you can gel. It is possible here to say the best you c an get, but the speaker chooses to emphasi?e the f ac t that the jacket is made of cotton. 23 Replacing and leaving out nouns We often replace a noun phrase with a pronoun to avoid rep ea ting the no un , as happens with glasses in MAny'S ( ;L ASSES in 22. Mary's got some new glasses. They're very ni ce. Have you seen Mary? She's got so me new glasses. For more details about pronoun s, > 175. We can also leave out a noun after certain word s. A number: There's only one CD il1 he re . "" No, tI, ere are two, look. A quantifier: I've got some chocolate h ere. Would YOll like some? This, that, these, or tho se: Myoid glasses weren't pholochromic, but these are. A super lative adjective: Which que stion was lhe most difficult? ; We cannot leave out the whole noun phra se. (NOT I've got some chocolate her e. Wottld-y&tJ-like1) 35 Leaving out and replacing words 24 Leaving out words afte r the auxiliary 36 A A se ntence can end with an auxiliary if the meaning is clear from the context. I'm doing this wrong. - Yes , it looks as ifyuu are. Kale hadn't broug/u an umbrella. She was pleased 10 see that l.auren had . I dOIl 't want to answer chis leller, but perhaps / should. Can you get cable TV? We can . If the verb is in a simple tense, we usc the auxiliary verb do. I don 't enjoy parties as much as my wife does. Don'llaugh . IJ you do, I'll kill you. We can also end a sentence with t he orciinary verb be. This piece isn't long enou.gh 111i s one is . V\ 'e of len use this kind of sentence when we are expressing a compariso n or contrast. The meeting went OIJ [oliger than I thouglll it wou ld. I'm fWI a s wd ent, but my girlfriend is. NOTE The stress can be on the auxiliary or the slIbject, whichever is the new infurma ti on. I've made a mlSwke . - Yes. I'm afrOld you HAVE (focus on the fact) Someo ne 's matte a mIstake - Yes, I'm a/rrJuJ ~ 'OU have. (fOl" llS on the person) B The auxiliary can be positive or negative. A positive auxiliary cannot be a short form . Am I too late? - Yes , I'm afraid you are. ( NOT I!m -afraid ,Ob. '. e.) fiU( an auxilia ry can be followed by rWi or uy the short form It 'l. Am I too late? - Of course you aren 't/y ou 're not . We can use a negative auxi li ary to co ntrad i ct someo ne . VI ' hal did you have Jor breakfast? / did~l 'I. I never hav e breakfast. C Usually everything aFter the auxilial)' is left out. Can you see now?, , Yes, I can. After can we leave out see now. BUl in so me contexts we PUI a word or phrase after the auxiliary, for examp le, a tag or an adverbial. This is a nice colour. -I t is , isn't it? Is there a markettoday ?- I don 'l know. There was yes(erday. In the second examp le a market is left out of the allswer, but yesterday is new information. D So metim es we ha ve to use two auxiliary verbs. When the first auxiliary is a n ew word in the co ntex t, we can not leave out the second. Have the team won?- Everyone's smiling, so they mllst have . I don 't know If Tom is still waiting. He might be . When is the fence going to be repaired? '" It already has been. In the se examp les mu st, might. and has ar~ new in the contex t, so we use both verbs. 25 Other structures where words are left out Bur when the (wo auxi li aries are both In the previous sentence, then \VC can leave OllI the second auxiliary. The gale hasn 't been repaired, bl.ll the fence has (been). YOIl could have hurl yourself, jumping off there. -I suppose } could ( ha lle). In British English, do is sometimes used after an auxiliary. I don't want La answer this leller, but perhaps I s hould (do). Have we won the contract?, , nveryone's smili ng , so we must have (do li e). Here do mean s 'answer the letter ', and done means 'won the contract'. 25 Other structures where words are left out A Short questions A short yes/no queslion consists of an auxilia ry + suhject. I've been to New York before. Have you?-No, I haven'l. I wanted Karen to pa. ~s her test. , "And did she? - Yes , forwnately. Here it is clear from the context thal And did she? mean s 'And d id she pass her test't In a short wh-question, we simply use a question word or question phra se I think I'm going to give up my course . , Really? Mty? I've gOl a hair appointment litis afternoon. "" What lim e? When the question word is the subject, th e ClLlxilial), can come after it'. Something rather st rang e has happened. '" W/1at ( has )? A sub-clause can also end with a que stion word if the meaning is clear from the context. The road is closed to traffic. No one knows why . I put the [eUer somewhere, and now I can'l remember where . NOTE For wily III s tructures su ch as WIl Y lite /iurry? and Wily bOllle r?, > I SA NOle h. B Leaving out a to -i nf i nitive clause When there is no need to repeat a to-infinitive clause, we can sometimes leave out the words after to. Would you like to join us for lunch? Yes, I'd love to. lane gut (he job, al(hough she didn '( expecc lO . We need people to serve ref reshments. Are you willing to? I didn't take any notes becaLL~e I didn't feel ale need ~a. You've swieched the campUler of! I coLd you not to, aidn't I? Th is happens most often when to follows a ve rb, adjecti ve, or noun, c.g. love to, willing to, need to. But we repea t an auxiliary after lo. iane was chosen for the Job, although she didn 'l expect to be. I'm nof s ure if lhe system has crashed. bw if . seerns to h ave (done). [...]... add dafter e, e.g close closed > 27 7A We double some consonants, e.g SlOp ~ stupped > 27 9 Y changes to ie, e.g hurry -+ hurried > 28 0 For the pronunciation of the -ed ending, > 27 7B But some past rorm s are irregular Tile campers left at six in thf' mormng Someone saw the smuke and rang the fire brigade Many commo n verb~ ha ve an irregular past form For a list , > 28 6 The past rorm is the same in... play? lIyoulweltiley don't play helshelit doesn't play There are some spelling rules for the s·forrn We add ·es after a sibilant sound e.g pwh ~ pushes > 27 6 Y changes to ie, e.g hurry hurries > 28 0A For the pronunciation of the ending, > 27 6B Note also the forms does IdAzl, goes Igauzt, has Ihlez/, and says Isez/ The verb be is irregular > 65A I am I You are I Simon is the oldest 1n the negative... make it more prominent than in its normal position A An adverbial in front position Most kinds of adverbial can go in front posit ion, for example truth adverbs, comment adverbs, and linking adverbs> 20 0 -20 2 I'm flot su re why we're in chis traffic jam Maybe there's been an accident I left the car unlocked Luckily it was still there when I got back The weather wasn 't velY good Despite that, we had a... lise th es e verbs and expressions: be afraid, it appears/appeared, assume believe, r.xpecl, guess, hope, imagine, presume, say, it seems/seemed, suppose, suspect, teil (someone), think Por do so, > 29 A 40 28 50 and not· I think so, I hope not etc We do not use knuw or be sure in this structure The flight has been cancelled '" Yes, I know (NOT ¥e~tUHtJ-"W.J The flight has been cancelled Are you sure?... isn'r playing am I playing? are you/we/they playing? is he/shelit playing? There are some spelling rules for the ing-form We normally leave out e before -ing, e.g lose losing > 27 8A We double some consonants, e.g stop -+ slOpping > 27 9 59 Verb C enses B Basic use of the present continuous, We use the present continuous for a present action over a period of time, something that \· e are in th e middl e... just so happened that J had my camera with me (= I happened to have my camera with mc.) 52 37 There or It? There is also II structure with if looks as II I as though and it seems as II I as though It looks as if it's going to m;lI It seems as though we'll never manage to save enoligh money NOTE For 11 is swd thaI > 92A • 37 There or it? there if There + be expresses the fact that something exists or... We can also use not after certain adverbs Will your friend be fit w travel?-No, definitely not These adverbs include certainly, definitely, maybe, of course, perhaps, possibly, presumably, and probably 29 More patterns with so A Do so, do it, and do that We can use do so or do it to avoid repeating an action verb and the words that ro llow it Do so is a little formal If you have not already paid this... He/She is noticing or remembering it Compare these t\vo structures You 've made a mistake So J halle (I agree that I have made a mistake ) I've made a mistake '" So have I (I have made a mistake, too.) 12 30 Special styles c So and that way So can replace an adjective after become and remain The situation is not yet $eriotts, but it may become so (::: It may become serious.) So is rather formal here In... orders the in formation ill a different way Th e choice of one or the other will depend on the context and what information is olel or new Th e rest of thi s chapter is about how we make suc h choi ces 32 Linking the information Olll (, li\ or TI JF In a text tlNI\·EHSE lylrmy scient ists think that (he ullilJerse was bom in a co lossal explosio1l called the Big Bal1g [II thi$ explosioll, 15,{JOO J'llilliofl... cold wind today.) We can sometimes leave out alan or the before a noun at the beginning of the sentence Cup of coffee is whac I lIeed (A cup of coffee ) Television's broken down (The tel~vision ) 38 27 Too, either, so, and neither/nor C We can leave out th e auxiliary or the ordinary verb he from a yes Ina question Your problem been sorted out? (= Has your problem been sorted out?) Everything all . cotton. 23 Replacing and leaving out nouns We often replace a noun phrase with a pronoun to avoid rep ea ting the no un , as happens with glasses in MAny'S ( ;L ASSES in 22 . Mary's. front po sition, for example truth adver bs, comment adverbs, and linking adverbs> 20 0 -20 2. I'm flot su re why we're in chis traffic jam. Maybe there 's been. S hall we haw a coffee?", I've just had one, but you go ahead. 29 Que stions and answers 20 Question tags -+ Audio A The form of a negative tag :0 The form of