Exercises on Short Answers
See Also
5 Types of Questions in English Grammar and How to Form Them | FluentU English BlogOpen-Ended Questions [vs Close-Ended] + ExamplesWelcome to Macmillan Education Customer SupportPolite English Phrases for E-Mails: Requesting and ThankingSaying ‘Yes, I do. / No, I don’t’ in English is more polite than just saying ‘Yes. / No.’ That’s why short answers are very commonly used.
To form the short answer, you use the first word from the question. (This is either an auxiliary verb or a form of ‘be’.)
Use the long form (he does) in affirmative answers (yes).
Use the short form (he doesn’t) in negative answers (no).
| Question | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Do we know him? | Yes, we do. | No, we don’t. |
| Can she see me? | Yes, she can. | No, she can’t. |
| Have they read the book? | Yes, they have. | No, they haven’t. |
| Is he hungry? | Yes, he is. | No, he isn’t. |
Mind: If ‘you’ is the subject of the question, ‘you’ must be replaced by ‘I’ or ‘we’.
| Question | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Do you know him? | Yes, I / we do. | No, I / we don’t. |
If the question starts with ‘are you’, ‘are’ must sometimes be replaced by ‘am’.
| Question | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Are you hungry? | Yes, I am. | No, I’m not. |
| But: → | Yes, we are. | No, we aren’t. |
