Yes/No Questions

A yes or no question is one that will only be accompanied by a yes or no response.

How to form yes-no questions

There is a specific word order (position) used when creating yes-no question.
Examples:

Affirmative	Yes or No Question
She is late again.	Is she late again?
Tim walks his dog.	Does Tim walk his dog?

The rules

1. If “to be” is the main verb in your sentence, you need to invert the verb to be and the subject:

Examples:

• They are coming over tonight. — Are they coming over tonight?

• Sarah and Mike are newlyweds. — Are Sarah and Mike newlyweds?

2. If the subject of the sentence has a main verb and a helping verb, you need to invert the subject and the first verb.

Examples:

• She is going to the store. — Is she going to the store?

• Sam has been to Germany before. — Has Sam been to Germany before?

• Sandy has been cooking all day. — Has Sandy been cooking all day?

• Brad will be taking the trash out. — Will Brad be taking the trash out?

3. If you have a sentence that doesn’t include a helping verb, but it does include a verb that isn’t to be, transforming the sentence will be more difficult.

a. If you have a present tense verb, adding in either does or do will put that verb into its base form:

do is used when the subject of the sentence is in singular first person or second person or plural first, second or third person

Examples:

• I enjoy swimming. — Do you enjoy swimming?

• Amy and Matt go to North Ridge. — Do Amy and Matt go to North Ridge?

does is used when the subject of the sentence is in singular third person

Examples:

• Jenny likes cooking. — Does Jenny like cooking?

• Bre despises doing math problems. — Does Bre despise doing math problems?

b. If you have past tense verbs, add did to the sentence and put the main verb back to its base form:

Examples:

• Jack found his missing assignment. — Did Jack find his missing assignment?

• He sang beautifully. — Did he sing beautifully?

• Steve ran to the bank. — Did Steve run to the bank?