米德佳英文編修校對及中翻英，論文翻譯，英文翻譯，公司翻譯: 常見英文錯誤： YES, I DON’T

DON’T YOU LIKE BOB？YES, I DON’T.

米德佳提供中翻英學術論文翻譯，含學術寫作英文編修。

完了…如果這時我想表達的是「我不喜歡」，該說yes還是no？否定句型常常讓人傷透腦筋。尤其在回答否定問句的時候，我們常常會猶豫不知道自己該說哪個答案！因此你一定要知道：

A. 前後的回答必須肯定或否定皆為一致，總共只可能會有兩種答案，Yes, I do.及No, I don’t.
B. 如果答案是肯定的（I like Bob.），那麼回答就是Yes, I do.，而若是否定的（I don’t like Bob. ），答案便為No, I don’t.

再看看別的例句吧：

e.g., Can’t you drive？No, I can’t.

你不會開車嗎？不，我不會開。

Use the verb BE to ask Yes / No questions about the identity or description of a person, place, or thing.

question		response
Am I your friend?		Yes. / Yes, you are. / Yes, you are my friend.
Is this a good restaurant?		No. / No, it is not. / No, it is not a good restaurant.
Are these islands Greek?		Yes. / Yes, they are. / Yes, these islands are Greek.
Was his idea interesting?		No. / No, it wasn’t. / No, his idea was not interesting.
Were they happy?		Yes. / Yes, they were. / Yes, they were happy.

Note that the response can be short (Yes. / No.), or long: Yes or No followed by the subject and verb.

Use the verb BE with a preposition to ask Yes / No questions about a present or past location.

question		response
Am I at the correct location?		No. / No, you aren’t.
Are the keys under the books?		No. / No, they are not.
Was his house on an island?		Yes. / Yes, it was.
Were the demonstrations in the center of town?		No. / No, they weren’t.

Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question about a current activity or situation. This requires the present progressive : BE + (verb+ing).

question		response
Am I going with you and Tom?		Yes. / Yes, you are.
Is she working today?		No. / No, she isn’t.
Are we seeing a play tomorrow?		Yes. / Yes, we are.

Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question about a past activity or situation. This requires the past progressive : WAS / WERE + (verb+ing).

question		response
Was it raining?		Yes. / Yes, it was.
Were they playing?		No. / No, they weren’t.

Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question with the passive voice.

question		response
Is gold mined in Canada?		Yes. / Yes it is.
Are flowers grown here?		No. / No, they are not.
Was the book read?		Yes. / Yes, it was.

Use the verb HAVE to ask if somebody has done something or if some action has taken place. Note that these Yes / No questions use the present perfect (HAVE + past participle).

question		response
Has your brother left?		No. / No, he hasn’t.
Have you driven before?		Yes. / Yes, I have.
Has the party started?		Yes. / Yes, it has.

Use the verb DO to ask Yes / No questions in order to obtain facts about people, places, or things.

question		response
Do they smoke?		No. / No, they don’t.
Does it rain here?		Yes. / Yes, it does.
Did the key work?		No. / No, it didn’t.

Use modal verbs to ask Yes / No questions about possibilities or uncertainties.

question		response
Can we stay?		Yes. / Yes, we can. / Yes, we can stay.
Could this be true?		Yes. / Yes, it could (be true).
Should they stop?		No. / No, they shouldn’t (stop).
May I help you?		Yes. / Yes you may (help me).

Remember: When asking Yes / No questions with DO or a modal verb, the main verb remains in the base form(without to).

correct		incorrect
Do you drink coffee?		Do you to drink coffee?
Does she work here?		Does she to work here?
Can I go with you?		Can I to go with you?
Should we email her?		Should we to email her?

However, if there are two verbs that follow DO, the second verb remains in the infinitive (with to).

correct		incorrect
Do you want to drink coffee?		Do you want drink coffee?
Does she like to work here?		Does she like work here?
Did you need to go home?		Did you need go home?