Exercises

Exercise 1. Define the communicative type of the following sentences. If the sentence is interrogative state whether it is general, pronominal, tag or alternative.

1. Don’t go home alone. 2. Why didn't you send the letter? 3. If the weather were good we should go to the wood. 4. Won’t you give me your book? 5. What a nice day! 6. Shall we go to the cinema or to the Zoo. 7. Health is the best wealth. 8. Close the door, please. 9. The doctor prescribed you a strict diet, didn't he? 10. You mustn’t come late for classes. 11. Let him go to the drugstore and have prescriptions made up. 12. How interesting this book is! 13. Why didn’t you ring me up?

Exercise 2. State the type of the following questions.

1. Can you fly this aircraft and land it? 2. W hat does he have to say? 3. Wasn't it an adventure? 4. So, they did take part in the reception, after all? 5. Will you do it alone, or will you have someone to help you? 6. Do we read a book for the book's sake? 7. A good deal has been written about the importance of the practice, hasn't it? 8. Has it been a monotonous day, or have we come across some diversions? 9. Do you care to comment or don't you? 10. Is it all over, or do we have to go through the ordeal from the start? 11. Isn't it a lovely bit of jewelry?

Exercise 3. Ask questions on the underlined words.

1, The show didn't amuse us very much. 2. The grandmother was mending as usual. 3. Margaret cannot keep a secret. 4. I watched her fasten green leaves in her hair. 5. The stewardess opened the door to the passenger deck. 6. These decisions were based on ignorance. 7. The liner will take off in half an hour. 8. They drove back with the car radio playing. 9. The information came from the Ministry of Defense. 10. Police has uncovered plenty of evidence. 11. The train will arrive in half an hour. 12. He has just returned from Australia. 13. She fell behind the group because she had missed many classes. 14. Mary was the first to come. 15. Helen will marry Peter. 16. Iris was waiting for you for an hour. 17. She moved as carefully as she could. 18. She goes to the gym at least twice a week. 19. Bob is not allowed to take father's car. 20. She was singing a sad monotonous song.

Exercise 4. Make up an alternative question out of each of the given pairs of statements.

1. These decisions were based on ignorance. These decisions were based on competence.

2. The liner will take off in half an hour. The liner will be taking off in a few minutes.

3. They drove back with the car radio playing. They drove back with the car radio switched off.

4. The information came from the Colonial Office files. The information came from the Ministry of Defense.

Exercise 5. Make up an alternative question to every statement using a prompt in brackets.

1. The patient complained of a headache, (tooth ache) 2. The doctor will sound your heart, (lungs) 3. I sent my granny an urgent telegram, (ordinary) 4. To get money from your account you must fill in a paying-out (paying-in) form. 5. You will go home alone, (we shall go together) 6. You went to the policlinics, (mother called the doctor in) 7. You will translate the text yourself. (Denis will help you)

Exercise 6. Change the following statements into tag-questions.

1. You cannot give me a definite answer. 2. They were married several weeks later. 3. The inspector made an affirmative gesture. 4. The tower clock chimed the hour. 5. There are no oranges left in the vase. 6. Police has uncovered plenty of evidence. 7. Margaret cannot keep a secret. 8. The show didn't amuse us very much. 9. It was difficult for Fanny to believe his words. 10. The stewardess opened the door to the passenger deck. 11. They were married several weeks later. 12. You got an infection from your brother. 13. He will not recover so soon. 14. Mike must not smoke so much. 15. The parcel has not been delivered yet. 16. There are some letters for me in the letter-box. 17. It was difficult for me to make this decision.

Exercise 7. Change the following declarative sentences into disjunctive questions.

Pattern: He is very fond of reading.

He is very fond of reading, isn't he?

1. There was never any talk about it. 2. She bought a new hat. 3. They live not far from my house. 4.1 gave her a nice present yesterday. 5. He couldn't recollect your address. 6. They weren't interested in it. 7. This photo was taken long ago.