Forming Negative and Interrogative Phrases
There are two ways (two big categories) of forming negative or interrogative sentences:
- First category: we use the auxiliary do in $99.9\%$ of verbs cases, in any other form possible: don’t / doesn’t / did / didn’t.
Examples:
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She likes chocolate.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She doesn’t like chocolate.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Does she like chocolate? - Second category: we use have or be or modal verbs in the remaining percentage, $0.1\%$, or you might call it the exception case.
Examples:
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She has eaten chocolate.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She hasn’t eaten chocolate.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Has she eaten chocolate?
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She is angry.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She isn’t angry.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Is she angry?
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She will eat chocolate.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She will not (won’t) eat chocolate.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Will she eat chocolate?
Important:
To better understand this topic, you need to work per elimination, meaning that you need to learn the exception cases, so that every time one of those exceptions occur in a sentences of yours, you know how to handle it, otherwise you should use do.
| Case | Percentage | Use | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptions (verbs) | 0.001% |
be – as main verb – as auxiliary have as auxiliary Modal verbs: – will / would – can / could – shall / should – may / might – must |
use the same – main verb – auxiliary and – modal verbs to form negation and interrogation |
| All verbs | 99.99% | do | use exclusively do to form negation and question |
Examples
Exceptions
- be as main verb:
- be as auxiliary:
- have as auxiliary:
- Modal verbs:
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She is at home.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She isn’t at home.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Is she at home?
Observation: When we use be as the main verb, we reuse it to form both negation and question.
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She is eating bread at home.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She isn’t eating bread at home.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Is she eating bread at home?
Observation: When we use be as auxiliary, we reuse it to form both negation and question.
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She has eaten bread at home.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She hasn’t eaten bread at home.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Has she eaten bread at home?
Observation: When we use have as auxiliary, we reuse it to form both negation and question.
$\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She will eat bread at home.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She will not (won’t) eat bread at home.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Will she eat bread at home?
Observation: When we use a modal verb, we reuse it to form both negation and question.
Modal verbs are:
$\qquad$ $ will \longrightarrow would $
$\qquad$ $ can \longrightarrow could $
$\qquad$ $ shall \longrightarrow should $
$\qquad$ $ may \longrightarrow might $
$\qquad$ $ must $
All verbs
The majority of verbs in English form their negation and interrogation with the auxiliary do.
Examples:
- $\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ She goes home.
- $\qquad$ Affirmative $\qquad\:\:\:\:\:\:\:$ They work hard.
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ She doesn’t go home.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Does she go home?
$\qquad$ Negative: $\qquad\qquad$ They don’t work hard.
$\qquad$ Interrogative: $\qquad\:$ Do they work hard?
N.B.: This is often the case if the sentence concerned does not include:
- neither the verb be as the main verb
- nor the verb be as an auxiliary verb
- nor the verb have as an auxiliary verb
- even less a modal verb.