The third question has arrived and it's about questions:
In some movies I hear sometimes e.g.: "Bob is your brother?"
But I've learnt the correct is: "Is Bob your brother?"
This is my question: Is "Bob is your brother?" correct? Or is "Is Bob your brother"? correct? Or they both are corrects?
The quick answer to your question is yes, they are both correct. You can say either 'Is Bob your brother?' or 'Bob is your brother?'.
However it is a little more complicated than that: You can SAY both types of questions, but it's really better to WRITE only 'Is Bob your brother?'.
Why?
'Is Bob your brother?' is the technically correct way of asking a question in English. The inverted sentence structure (Is Bob Vs Bob is) tells us that it's a question. That makes it perfect for WRITTEN ENGLISH, because we can see the difference when we read it.
'Bob is your brother?' is dependent on the way you SAY it: your voice has to 'go up' at the end of the question to indicate it's a question.
But!
What about the '?', doesn't that indicate it's a question anyway? Yes it does, but in English it's always best to be as clear as possible. This is particularly true in written English.
So to summarize: you can SAY both, if you want to. You should only WRITE one (Is Bob your brother?)
*This is a good example of the best and the worst thing about English: flexibility.
New Calendar: Colour Matt
13 years ago
Oh I forgot to mention - if you want some question practice, you can find some free exercises to download from one of my websites:
ReplyDeletehttp://sites.google.com/site/tobytheteacher/Home/grammar---intermediate/questions---do-or-no-do-present-and-past-simple
http://sites.google.com/site/tobytheteacher/Home/grammar---intermediate/questions---present-and-past
Excuse the ugly links! Someone needs to make the internet beautiful!!!
Thanks a lot. Now it is completely clear.
ReplyDeleteGreat! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them!
ReplyDeleteToby.
You're completely missing the innuendo of "Bob is your brother?" vs "Is Bob your brother?"
ReplyDelete"Bob is your brother?" implies shock or surprise; whereas, "Is Bob your brother?" means you simply don't know who Bob is or who the person's brother is.
Junk:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment! That's an interesting point.
It is true that the form 'Bob is your brother?' is more likely to imply shock or surprise.
BUT, it's more related to voice tone (the way you say it) than to the structure.
For example: I could say 'Is Bob your BROTHER?' (and go up a lot at the end of the sentence) and imply the same amount of shock or surprise.
In other words, it's not really the structure that implies shock or surprise, it's the way you say it. I could say anything in English and imply surprise: 'Milk comes from COWS?!'
I stand by my original post: the important thing for learners of English is to understand that you can only really use one form (Is Bob your brother?) when WRITING and, if you want, both forms when SPEAKING.
Thank you again for your comment. I appreciate you taking the time.
I'd have liked you have included a real blogger ID. It would have been interesting to read a little bit about you. Maybe something to consider for the future? If you're going to be commenting on the work of others.
Toby.
Simply... wonderful! I came across this blog through Nelba Quintana, and now I am going to set it as one of my favourites! Thank you very much for sharing with us your knowledge! Alejandra Schuster
ReplyDeleteAlejandra,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your comments!
If you have any English questions yourself, feel free to ask them: answers@ondemandenglishsupport.com
Toby.