QUESTIONS 2.1.

Direct / Indirect Questions Like Romanian, English makes use of two main types of questions: - direct questions (Did Susan give Tom the parcel?) - indirect questions (He asked if Susan had given Tom the parcel) We shall leave the problem of indirect questions aside, for a subsequent section. This section will only deal with the opposition between direct and indirect questions , focusing on direct questions mainly. If we try to analyze the examples above, it appears that direct questions are characterized by: a) the placing of an auxiliary in front of the subject: (1) Will Jane meet the president today? (O s fac Jane cunotin cu preedintele azi?) b) the initial positioning of an interrogative or wh element (2) Who will Jane meet? (Cu cine o s se ntlneasc Jane?) (3) What is she talking about? (Ce spune acolo?) c) rising question intonation It can be said that the interrogative force of direct questions is provided by two of the characteristics we mentioned: the fact that the subject changes places with the auxiliary, by means of Subject Auxiliary Inversion, and the specific rising intonation a speaker attaches to the sentence he utters. Unlike direct questions, indirect ones do not make use of Subject Auxiliary Inversion, and their intonation is not rising (and this is obvious even graphically, since we do not use a question mark with indirect questions). In the case of indirect questions, the interrogative force we were speaking about has been taken over by the main verb that introduces the indirect question. Compare: (4) Where are you going? (Unde te duci?) to (5) He asked her where she was going. (A ntrebat-o unde se duce) The fact that the meaning of indirect questions is tightly linked to the main verb that introduces them is reinforced in English by the necessity that the tense within the indirect question should correspond to the tense in the main clause (that is, the rules of the sequence of the tenses need to be observed: in example (5), the Past Tense in the main clause matches the Past Continuous in the subordinate). It would be therefore incorrect to say something like: (6) He asked her *where she is going. because, in this case, the sequence of the tenses is violated. Likewise, it would be wrong to say (in standard English): (7) He asked her *where was she going.

Since the question is not direct any more, Subject Auxiliary Inversion is not required, and the sentence would be deemed grammatically wrong. 2.2. Quirks Classification of Direct Questions A first possible classification of questions is related to whether these questions are long or short. Short questions tend to lose some of their content, being typical of spoken language. Compare for instance: (8) What do you want? (Ce vrei?) to (9) What? (Ce?) or (10) Where are you going? (Unde te duci?) to (11) Where to? (ncotro?) Another criterion of classification is, as Quirk shows, the type of answer the respective question requires. In this case, one can speak of three classes of questions: those questions that need a yes/no answer, those that need an elaborate answer and those that need an alternative answer. Let us provide examples and a short presentation of each of the aforementioned types of direct questions. 2.2.1. Yes / No Questions As their name suggests, yes/ no questions are those particular questions that receive a yes/ no answer. Here are a couple of examples: (12) Have you read Great Expectations? (Ai citit Marile Sperane?) (13) Did you go to the party? (Te-ai dus la petrecere?) Since questions qualify as non-assertive contexts, one would expect them to make use of Negative Polarity Items: (14) Did anyone call last night? (M-a cutat cineva asear?) (15) Has the boat left yet? (A plecat deja vasul?) Those yes / no questions that prefer to use Affirmative Polarity Items, instead of Negative Polarity ones, are said to be positively oriented, that is the answers to these questions are supposed to be positive: (16) Did someone call last night? (M-a cutat cineva asear?) Yes, they did. (Da). (17) Has the boat left already? (A plecat deja vasul?) Yes, it has. (Da).

A sub-type of yes/ no questions is represented by the so-called declarative questions, which are so named because they are not characterized by Subject Auxiliary Inversion. The declarative question is a type of question which is identical in form to a statement, except for the final rising question intonation: (18) You realize what the RISKS are? (i dai seama de riscuri?) (19) He didnt finish the RACE? (N-a terminat cursa?) Another sub-type of yes / no questions is supplied by negative questions: (20) Didnt you know she was my Mum? (Nu tiai c e mama mea?) (21) Cant you be more patient? (Nu poi s ai i tu mai mult rbdare?) (22) Wont you tell me who you went out with? (Nu-mi spui i mie cu cine te-ai ntlnit?) 2.2.2 Wh questions Wh- questions are formed with the aid of one of the following simple interrogative words: who/ whom/ whose, what, which, when, where, how, why The wh-phrase appears in sentence-initial position and Subject Auxiliary Inversion takes place: (23) a. On what did you base your prediction? (formal) b. What did you base your prediction on? (informal) (Pe ce i bazezi pronosticul?) Note that there is a group of informal intensificatory wh words ( who ever, what ever, why ever, etc) that convey to the question an emphatic meaning: (24) What ever did you do that for? (De ce oi fi fcut tu asta?) (25) Why ever didnt he tell me? (De ce oare nu mi-o fi spus?) There are, of course, other forms of intensification available: (26) Who on earth did this? (Cine o fi fcut una ca asta?) (27) Who the hell does he think he is? (impolite) (Cine naiba se crede?) (28) Why in heavens name did you say that? (impolite) (Pentru numele lui Dumnezeu, de ce ai spus aa ceva?) There are certain cases where there are two wh phrases present in the question: (29) Susan has hidden something somewhere. What has she hidden where? (Ce a ascuns i unde l-a pus?)

Where has she hidden what? (Unde i ce a ascuns?)

2.2.3. Alternative questions Alternative questions are those questions that receive an alternative answer: (30) A: Would you like to smoke a cigarette or a pipe? B: A cigarette. (A: Fumezi o igar sau o pip? B: O igar.)

Any positive yes/no question can be converted into an alternative one by adding the phrase or not, or a matching negative clause: (31) (32) Yes / no question: Alternative question: Are you coming? Vii? Are you coming or not? (Vii sau nu?) Are you coming or arent you? (Vii sau nu vii?)

2.3. Minor Types of Questions There are two minor types of questions we would like to mention in the following subsections: tag questions and echo questions. 2.3.1. Tag Questions Tag questions, or disjunctive questions are mostly typical of spoken English. They can be attached to: an imperative Open the door, will you? Deschide ua, da? Lets go there, shall we? (Hai s mergem acolo, da?)

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but the most frequent kind of tag questions are the ones attached to: declarative sentences She went to Prague, didnt she? (S-a dus la Praga, nu-i aa?)

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We shall deal with the latter type in more detail. Depending on whether they match the polarity of the main sentence or not, tag questions can be: constant polarity tags Constant polarity tags have the same polarity as the host sentence (i.e. if the host or main sentence is affirmative, the tag is affirmative too; if the host sentence is negative, the tag is negative too). The suggestion is that in this case, the speaker using the tag disagrees with what the main sentence states . In this way, constant polarity tags can be a means of expressing irony, sarcasm; this is why constant polarity tags have also been called reactive tags, or comment tags, since they reveal the speakers reaction to the situation he comments upon:

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John: And Sue hasnt graduated yet. ( i Sue nu i-a dat nc licena) Harry: She hasnt graduated yet, hasnt she? (Aha, deci nu i-a dat licena, hm?) A: Wheres the rest of the money? (Unde e restul de bani?) B: Im afraid its all spent. (Din pcate, au fost cheltuii.) A: Oh, its all spent, is it? (Deci, au fost cheltuii, hm?)

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reversed polarity tags Reversed polarity tags are those tags that are negative when the host sentence is affirmative and vice versa. Depending on whether the intonation of the respective tag is rising, or falling, reversed polarity tags can be split in their turn into two categories: with a rising intonation, the speaker is not sure about what he says and he expects an answer: Theyre moving, arent they? (Se mut, nu?) with a falling intonation, the speaker is sure about what he says and doesnt really expect an answer:

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He caused the accident, didnt he? (El e cel care a cauzat accidentul, nu?)

2.3.2. Echo Questions Quirk discusses two categories of echo questions: 2.3.2.1. Recapitulatory echo questions - questions which repeat part or all of the message, as a way of having its content confirmed In their turn, recapitulatory echo questions can be further split into: a) general echo questions characterized by the fact that they have the same order as declarative questions (see 2.2.1.) but a rising intonation (instead of a falling one, as is the case with declarative questions): (40) A: I didnt like that meat. (Nu mi-a plcut friptura aia.) B: You didnt like it? ( Nu i-a plcut?) A: My husband speaks Chinese. (Soul meu tie chinez.) B: Chinese? (Chinez?) b) special echo questions the wh- word can be placed in sentence initial position or not. If the wh- phrase is fronted, Subject Auxiliary Inversion takes place, accompanied by rising intonation:

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A:I saw Bill yesterday. (Ieri l-am vzut pe Bill.) B: You saw WHOM yesterday? (Pe cine ai vzut ieri?!) A: Switch that light off. (nchide lumina aia.) B: Switch WHAT off? (Ce s nchid?!) A: We went to Amsterdam. (Ne-am dus la Amsterdam.) B: WHERE did you go? (Unde ai fost?!) A: He is an astronaut. (E astronaut) B: WHAT is he? (Ce e?!) Such sentences often express surprise, consternation, disbelief, misunderstanding:

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A: My husband eats bugs. (Soul meu mnnc insecte.) B: He eats WHAT? (Ce mnnc_?!)

2.3.2.2. Explicatory Echo Questions ask for the clarification, rather than the repetition, of something just said. The difference between recapitulatory and explicatory echo questions lies in the type of intonation they possess: as we have seen, with recapitulatory echo questions, intonation is rising, whereas with explicatory echo questions, intonation is falling: (47) A: Take a look at this. (Uit-te la asta.) B: Take a look at WHAT? (La ce s m uit?) A: Oh, dear, Ive lost the letter. (Vai, am pierdut scrisoarea.) B: WHICH letter have you lost? you say, you have lost?) (Ce scrisoare ai pierdut?)

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(i.e. which letter do you mean, rather than did