What does alternative question mean in English? Alternative question in English

ALTERNATIVE QUESTION

- English question, alternative (question, dichotomic); German Alternativefrage. A question that offers a choice of one of two answer options.

Antinazi. Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2009

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Books

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Set of 5 books. Alcoholism - joy, or a serious illness. Is a hyperactive child forever? How to raise a healthy child. Sex education for children. Acute conditions in children. (number of volumes: 5), Kruglyak Lev. "Alcoholism - joy, or a serious illness." The problem of alcoholism is dangerous not only because of the severe consequences of this disease, but, first of all, because it arises unnoticed - from harmless...

Every day you make a choice between several options. “Will you have tea or coffee? Shall we go to the cinema or a restaurant? Will they fly by plane or go by train?

IN English language questions that give us the right to choose are called alternative. They are very easy to build.

I have prepared instructions for you that will teach you how to ask and answer such questions.

From the article you will learn:

How to ask an alternative question:

What are alternative questions

True to their name, these questions presuppose the right to choose, that is, an alternative. By asking it, we give the interlocutor two options to choose from.

Do you like cats or dogs?

Let's learn how to ask such questions in English.

How to ask an alternative question?

When we talk about choice, in Russian we use the word “or”. In English we use the word or.

To construct an alternative question, you need to add the word to the end of the general question or and one more option to make a choice.

Common question:
"Do you drink tea?"

Alternative question:
"Do you drink tea or coffee?»

If you don't know how to build general question I recommend that you start with this article.

Let's take a closer look at how alternative questions are asked with the auxiliary verb, the verb to be, and the modal verb.

Alternative question with auxiliary verbs in English

Auxiliary verbs- these are words that are not translated, but only serve as pointers. They help us determine:

time of what is happening (present, future, past);
number of characters (many or one).

Read more about auxiliary verbs in this article.

Each tense in English has its own auxiliary(do/does, have/has, did, had, will). Let's look at the auxiliary verbs of the three most commonly used tenses.

1. Present simple tense (Present Simple Tense):

does when we talk about someone in singular(he she it);
do, for all other cases (I, you, we, they).

2. Past simple tense ( Past Simple Tense): did.

3. Future Simple Tense: will.

How to ask an alternative question with auxiliary verbs?

To form a question, you need to create a general question, and at the end of the sentence using or add another choice.

Scheme for constructing an alternative question:

Auxiliary verb + actor + ___ or ___?

Let's look at examples.

General question	Alternative question
Does he go to workby subway? Does he get to work by subway?	Does he go to work by subway or by car? Does he get to work by subway or car?
Do they like apples? Do they like apples?	Do they like apples or pearls? Do they like apples or pears?
Will he watch TV? Will he watch TV?	Will he watch TV or read a book? Will he watch TV or read a book?
Did they play football? Did they play football?	Did they play football or tennis? Did they play football or tennis?

You can find out more about the formation of questions in Simple group times here:

Alternative questions with the verb to be in English

Also in English there is special kind verb - verb to be. We use it when we say that someone:

is somewhere (he is in the park);
is someone (she is a nurse);
is somehow (the cat is gray).

Depending on the tense in which we use this verb, it changes its form.

In the present tense - am, are, is.
In the past tense - was, were.
In the future tense - will be.

If the sentence contains the verb to be, then the alternative question is constructed according to the following scheme.

Verb to be + actor + ____ or ____?

Let's look at example sentences.

General question	Alternative question
Is your cat grey? Is your cat gray?	Is your cat gray or black? Is your cat gray or black?
Were they at school? Were they at school?	Were they at school or at home? Were they at school or at home?
Was he a doctor? Was he a doctor?	Was he a doctor or a teacher? Was he a doctor or a teacher?
Will it be hot? It will be hot?	Will it be hot or cold? Will it be hot or cold?

There are verbs in English that do not indicate an action (go, read, study), but show an attitude towards these actions (must go, can read, should study):

can/could - I can;
must - must;
may/might - I can;
should - follows, etc.

Sentences containing such words do not require an auxiliary verb (do/does, did, will, etc.).

The scheme for creating an alternative question will be as follows.

Modal verb + actor + ____ or ____?

Let's look at examples.

General question	Alternative question
Should he stay here? Should he stay?	Should he stay here or leave? Should he stay or go?
May I take your pen? Can I take your pen?	May I take your pen or your pencil? Can I borrow your pen or pencil?
Can you open a window? Can you open the window?	Can you open a window or a door? Can you open the window or door?

Details about modal verbs you can read in this article.

How to answer an alternative question in English

In response to an alternative question, you must choose one of the proposed options. Therefore, we cannot answer “yes” or “no”.

The answer is constructed in the same time as the question.

Do you like chocolate or ice-cream? I like ice-cream.
Do you like chocolate or ice cream? I like ice cream.

Will he work or have a rest on this weekend? He will have a rest on this weekend.
Will he be working or relaxing this weekend? He will be resting this weekend.

Are they American or British? They are American?
Are they American or British? They are Americans.

Should she stay at home or go to the party? She should go to the party.
Should she stay home or go to the party? She should go to the party.

We have studied the theory, and now let's move on to practice. Write your completed task in the comments, and I will check it.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Can you bring me cookies or chocolate?
2. Do you like oranges or bananas?
3. Do you want tea or coffee?
4. Is your dog small or big?
5. Is she at work or in the store?
6. You bought White dress or a red dress?
7. Will she go to the cinema with Tom or Peter?

Leave your answers in the comments below the article.

There are five types in English interrogative sentences: dividing, general, special and alternative questions, as well as questions to the subject. All of these species are almost equally complex and occur with approximately the same frequency. The alternative question is neither the most difficult nor the easiest, but it certainly can rightfully be called indispensable. This is exactly what this article will be about.

General definition

An alternative question is a question containing a certain choice that is offered to the answerer. By asking such a question, the speaker seems to imply that the listener will have to make his own decision by choosing one of the options offered to him.

Characteristic distinctive feature such questions is the presence of the conjunction “or” - “or”. Grammatically, examples of alternative questions differ little from other types of questions: they also use an auxiliary verb, placed at the beginning of the sentence and placed before the subject.

How to ask such a question?

Easier than it might seem at first glance. The best way to look at the use of alternative questions in English is through examples. For example, here is a fairly simple sentence:

Yesterday my boyfriend bought a new blue car. - Yesterday my boyfriend bought a new car of blue color.

Here is a whole list of alternative questions that can be asked to this proposal:

Question	Translation
Did your boyfriend buy a new blue car yesterday or the day before yesterday?	Did your boyfriend buy a new blue car yesterday or the day before?
Did your boyfriend buy a new blue or red car yesterday?	Did your boyfriend buy a new car, blue or red?
Did your boyfriend buy an old or a new blue car yesterday?	Did your boyfriend buy a new or old blue car yesterday?
Did your boyfriend buy or borrow a new blue car?	Did your boyfriend buy or borrow a new blue car yesterday?
Did your boyfriend buy a new blue car yesterday, or your brother did?	Did your brother or boyfriend buy a new blue car yesterday?
Did your boyfriend buy a new blue car or bicycle yesterday?	Did your boyfriend buy a new car or blue bike yesterday?
Did your or your sister's boyfriend buy a new blue car yesterday?	Did your boyfriend or your sister's boyfriend buy a new blue car yesterday?

As the examples show, all alternative questions contain several answer options, from which the speaker invites his interlocutor to choose. To formulate such a question, it is necessary to imagine possible options and voice them to the interlocutor through the already mentioned earlier “or”.

It is logical that a question that requires multiple answers cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” The answer must be complete, most often a full sentence. For example, to this question:

Did he arrive a week or two ago? - Did he arrive a week or two ago?

The following answer might be:

He arrived two weeks ago. - He arrived two weeks ago.

Sometimes, to avoid tautology, the word "one" is used. For example, in response to this alternative question:

Would you like to put on the black or the gray suit? - Would you prefer to wear a black or gray suit?

You can answer as follows:

I think, I "ll better choose the black one. - I think that, most likely, I will choose black.

IN colloquial speech Short, one-word answers are also acceptable. For example, to such an everyday question as:

Would you like some tea or coffee? - Would you like to have some tea or coffee?

You can answer briefly:

A cup of coffee, please. - I'd like a cup of coffee.

Factors such as: social status the interlocutor, the relationship with him, as well as the formality or informality of the situation in general.

Alternative questions with a question word

A question word may well be used when using this type of question. To understand how this works, it is better to use a simple sentence again, as an example of which you can ask ordinary alternative questions, which can then be easily rebuilt into questions with a question word. Here's a simple proposal:

We will go to Spain by car. - We will go to Spain by car.

Here's how you can pose an alternative question to it:

As the examples of questions with a question word show, alternative questions of this type look and are formed in the same way as special ones, with the only difference being that they use a colon and the conjunction “or”.

Questions to the subject

They have already been used as examples in this article, but have not been discussed separately. To ask a question to the subject, you need to formulate a special question for the first subject, and then write down the similarity of the second half, separated by commas dividing question for the second subject. In theory this seems complicated, but in practice it looks quite concise and simple:

Where are these questions used?

Examples of alternative questions, of course, can be found not only on the pages of English textbooks. If this were so, there would be no point in studying them. In fact, these questions are used in almost all styles of speaking and writing.

In addition, alternative questions are a tool of manipulation, a favorite technique of marketers and salespeople, perfectly trained to instill in customers the desire to buy something they never need in their lives. It works like this: by providing the listener with answer options, the speaker limits their range possible actions. For example:

Alright, sir, would you prefer us to box it or you will do it buy yourself? - So, sir, would you rather we pack the goods, or would you do it yourself?

Perhaps the “sir” mentioned in this phrase had not yet decided to buy the product at all, but was only thinking about it, inadvertently mentioning that theoretically he might like it. So, when hearing an alternative question from a service worker, you should be very careful.

Good afternoon dear friends. Julia Marzan and the School of Effective Sales blog are with you. Let's continue the conversation about questions that are used in sales to obtain the client's consent to purchase. Today we will talk about alternative questions.

suggest several (usually two) possible options client's response, each of which suits the seller. Such questions contain two sentences; refusal is not provided for.

Alternative questions can be successfully used on any For example, using alternative questions on a neutral topic, you can “talk” to your interlocutor, understand his areas of interest, unobtrusively identify needs, and direct the client’s thoughts to choosing alternatives.

Examples of alternative questions

“Is it more interesting for you to go to Egypt or Turkey?”
“Will you draw up the contract yourself or let our specialists do it?”
“Is morning or evening delivery convenient for you?”
"You choose washing machine top-loading or front-loading?
“Would you be comfortable if we set up a meeting on Wednesday or Friday?”
“Are you comfortable picking up the goods yourself or will you use a delivery service?”

By asking alternative questions, the salesperson can focus the client's attention on two or more options. This makes the decision easier and makes the selection process easier.

When are alternative questions used?

when summing up intermediate and final results;
when discussing plans for further work;
to encourage indecisive clients to make a decision;
in order to reassure the client and allow him to choose the best option for further action.

When formulating alternative questions, it is very important to offer the client options that are truly acceptable to him. Otherwise, the client may mistake a seemingly harmless alternative question for manipulation.

The point is that with the help of an alternative question the client in a certain way is programmed for the choice procedure, is locked into this process and rarely realizes whether he needs to make a choice at all. Even fairly psychologically literate clients do not always realize the veiled manipulation at the time of sale.

For example, a girl tries on a blouse. Seller: “Which blouse do you like better: blue or red?” Client (not yet knowing whether she needs a blouse at all): “Red.”

Of course, if the client is completely uninterested in your product, no manipulation will help you. And if the client understands the difference between the products offered, then this is not manipulation at all, but only a way to slightly push the client towards.