4.5 Yes, no and elliptical answers

The answer to a yes-no question is usually not a complete statement. Rather, it is just yes or no (or an equivalent). Quite often, we support the yes or no by an elliptical verb phrase. Or we may just use the elliptical verb phrase on its own:

• Do you know Peter?

• Yes.

• Sure.

• Of course.

• Yes, I do.

• I do.

• Of course I do.

• Of course I know Peter!

• Have you ever been to Minsk?

• No.

• Never.

• Of course not.

• No, I haven’t.

• I haven’t, actually.

• I don’t think I have.

• Of course I haven’t.

• No I haven’t been to Minsk.

The tone for these answers may be of the tones that can be used in full statements. Typically, it will be a definitive fall; but other tones are possible:

• Are you going to object?

• Yes, I am.

• Yes, I am. (…and I’ll tell you why.)

• Yes, I am. (…though not immediately.)

• Have you done your homework?

• No, I haven’t.

• No, I haven’t. (…and I’m not going to.)

• No, I haven’t. (…but I will.)

These grammatical patterns can be used not only to answer a direct question but also to express our agreement with what the other person is saying or alternatively to contradict them. A straightforward agreement typically uses a all:

• So you’ve done your homework.

• Yes.

• I certainly have.

• Yes, I have.

• Of course I have.

• Yes. (…but not all of it.)

To contradict what the other person says, it is possible to use a definitive fall or a tentative fall-rise; bur the most usual tone is a rise:

• You haven’t brought the milk.

• I have.

• It was brilliant.

- It wasn’t.

If we put (oh) yes or (oh) no before the elliptical verb phrase in a contradiction, English has fixed idiomatic tone patterns and in particular disallows a sequence of two falls. (You cannot contradict a negative statement by saying yes alone.) This pattern is used only to contradict a statement, not to answer a question:

• You haven’t brought the milk!

• Yes, I have. (= You’re wrong.)

• Oh yes, I have.

• Yes I have.

not Yes, I have.

• It was brilliant.

• No, it wasn’t! (=You’re wrong.)

• Oh no, it wasn’t.

• No it wasn’t.

not No, it wasn’t.

Contradictions can also be said with a definitive fall: the difference is that a (high)

fall implies warmth and solidarity with the other person – i. e. is supportive – while the rise implies defensiveness and unfriendliness – that is, it is unsupportive.

• You haven’t paid for the coffee.

• I have! (= It’s OK, nothing’s wrong.)

• You haven’t paid for the coffee.

• I have. (= Don’t accuse me wrongly.)

4.6 Independent rises

As well as for declarative questions and in uptalk, rises are used for short responses encouraging further conversation. They signal no more than that the social interaction running smoothly.

• Have a cup of tea.

• That’s very kind of you.

Learners of English should be careful, however not to use this tone for non-routine answers:

• Where are you from, then?

• Norway. ?-tone

With a rise on Norway, this could sound rude (suggestion, perhaps, that this is routine information that the person asking the question ought to know already). For a straightforward statement in answer to the question, use a fall.

Rises are also used for various interjections and for dependent parts of a larger structure. But they are fairly unusual with statements that are truly independent.

I just asked for some extra time. It’s a perfectly reasonable request.

The rise here, perhaps, signals that the second sentence is not actually independent, but an afterthought to, or qualification of, the first.

Further discussion of rises in statements must wait until the analysis of prenuclear patterns.