How to answer Quick Questions

As all Oxinity students know, one unique characteristic is that we always begin each of our lessons with ‘Quick Questions’ – a rapid Q&A section where the teacher poses a closed question - one that can only be answered with a yes/no style reply - and the student must respond with a short affirmative or negative answer.

Firstly, the teacher adapts the question to the student’s level. So, our Quick Questions can range from the simple (Can you drive?) to the intermediate (Did you go to the cinema last weekend?) to the more advanced (Have you been working at your company for many years?)

Sounds simple? In essence it is, yet many students are unsure how to form a structurally correct reply.

Common mistakes:

· Answering with the wrong subject

· Answering with the main verb rather than the auxiliary verb

· Answering in the wrong tense

How to get it right:

1. Listen for the subject of the question. If the subject is he, she, it, we, or they, then the same word should be used in the answer:

Is he really going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro? Yes he is / No he isn’t

Are they meeting us at the airport? Yes they are / No they aren’t

But if the subject is ‘you’, the answer must contain ‘I’:

Are you angry about the latest government proposals? Yes I am / No I’m not

2. Focus on the verb. Is it the verb ‘to be’? Which tense is it in?

Questions using the verb ‘to be’ are the easiest – we simply reply with the verb ‘to be’ in the appropriate tense, present or past:

Is she jealous? Yes she is / No she isn’t

Are you excited? Yes I am / No I’m not

Was he on time for the team meeting? Yes he was / No he wasn’t

Were they disappointed? Yes they were / No they weren’t

3. Is there a modal verb in the question?

Questions with modal verbs are similarly easy, because we can reply using the modal verb, irrespective of whether the question is simple or more complex:

Can you speak Italian? Yes I can / No I can’t

Can you believe that he was telling lies all along, right from the first moment we met him? Yes I can / No I can’t

Should I call him to apologise? Yes you should / No you shouldn’t

Would you ever complain if your colleagues were disrespectful?

Yes I would / No I wouldn’t

4. Is it a “Do” or “Does” type question? When we have an extra, auxiliary verb such as ‘do’ or ‘does’, we must use this auxiliary in our short reply.

Do you like Coca-Cola? Yes, I do / No I don’t (NOT: Yes I like!)

Does he play football every Sunday? Yes he does / No he doesn’t (NOT: Yes he plays!)

5. The same applies if we are answering a question in the past simple, for example:

Did he break the speed limit? Yes he did / No he didn’t

Did you eat the last chocolate in the box? Yes I did / No I didn’t

6. And how about a question in the present perfect – the answer should include the appropriate form of ‘have’:

Have you ever danced till dawn? Yes I have / No I haven’t

Has the rocket landed on Mars yet? Yes it has / No it hasn’t

7. The same even applies to a question in the present perfect continuous:

Have you been waiting for me over two hours? Yes I have / No I haven’t

Has he been painting the shed all afternoon? Yes he has / No he hasn’t

8. And guess what? A question in the past perfect follows the same rules!

Had he already left the office by 4pm? Yes he had / No he hadn’t

Had they argued before they broke up? Yes they had / No they hadn’t

By now I hope you are feeling much more confident about your next Oxinity lesson and ready to reply to those Quick Questions with a perfect answer.

So, in summary my key tips are:

1. Listen for the subject of the question
2. Listen for the verb and tense
3. Think – is there an auxiliary? do / does / did / have / has / had?
4. Create your reply with confidence!