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Making Negative Sentences and Questions in English
1. Making Negative Sentences
To make a sentence negative, we generally use the word “not” after the auxiliary verb (helping verb). If there is no auxiliary verb in the positive sentence, we add one (usually do
or does
in the present simple tense and did
in the past simple tense).
Present Simple Tense
Use do not
(don’t) or does not
(doesn’t) with the base form of the verb:
Examples:
- Positive: She likes ice cream.
- Negative: She does not (doesn’t) like ice cream.
- Positive: They play football.
- Negative: They do not (don’t) play football.
Past Simple Tense
Use did not
(didn’t) with the base form of the verb:
Examples:
- Positive: He went to the market.
- Negative: He did not (didn’t) go to the market.
- Positive: We saw the movie.
- Negative: We did not (didn’t) see the movie.
Other Tenses
For other tenses, place not
after the auxiliary verb:
Examples:
- Present Continuous: She is not (isn’t) working today.
- Past Continuous: They were not (weren’t) playing when I called.
- Present Perfect: I have not (haven’t) finished my homework.
- Future Simple: He will not (won’t) come to the party.
2. Making Questions
To form a question, we often invert the subject and the auxiliary verb. If there is no auxiliary verb, we add one (usually do
, does
, or did
).
Yes/No Questions
Invert the subject and the auxiliary verb:
Examples:
- Statement: You are coming.
- Question: Are you coming?
- Statement: She can swim.
- Question: Can she swim?
Wh- Questions
Use a question word (who, what, where, when, why, how) at the beginning, then invert the subject and auxiliary verb:
Examples:
- Statement: She is reading.
- Question: What is she reading?
- Statement: They are going.
- Question: Where are they going?
Questions without Auxiliary Verbs
In the present and past simple tenses, add do
, does
, or did
:
Examples:
- Statement: You like pizza.
- Question: Do you like pizza?
- Statement: She visited Paris.
- Question: Did she visit Paris?