Questions: short forms
In informal situations, especially in speaking, we can reduce questions rather than using complete clauses. Short questions can be clauses, phrases or even single words:
Full form | Short form |
Are you hungry? | You hungry? or Hungry? |
Is this your pen? | This your pen? |
When we shorten questions, the auxiliary verb and the subject are both often omitted (ellipsis):
- A: Got the key? (full form: Have you got the key?)
- B: Yeah.
- A: Working tonight? (full form: Are you working tonight?)
- B: No, thankfully.
warning
We cannot omit the auxiliary verb or the subject if the subject is I:
- Have I met you before?
- Not:
Met you before? - Am I really the one for this job?
- Not:
I really the one for this job?
When we know a lot about the context, we often shorten questions:
- A: Are you looking forward to the party? (full form)
- B: Not really.
- A: Why aren’t you? (full form: Why aren’t you looking forward to the party?)
- B: I’m not a great fan of parties.
When we know a lot about the context, it would be unusual and often too formal to use the full form of the question.
Compare
A: Want to go for lunch now?B: Yeah, great.A: The Diner?B: That’s perfect. | A and B know each other well and they often go to lunch at The Diner. |
A: Do you want to go for lunch now?B: Yeah, great.A: Do you want to go to The Diner?B: That’s perfect. | The full forms of the questions are correct but the full form of the second question sounds more formal than the short form. |
See also
- Ellipsis