The Questions That Vanish
The Questions That Vanish
A student came to me frustrated yesterday.
She heard a question about Maria and coffee.
She caught the words "Maria" and "coffee" and "Monday."
But she gave the wrong answer.
She said, "Coffee."
The question was: "Does Maria drink coffee on Monday?"
The answer should be: "Yes, she does."
Here's the problem.
She focused on content words. She missed the question type.
Five Days, Five Stories
Let me show you with simple stories about Maria's week.
Maria drinks coffee on Monday morning.
Tom studies English on Tuesday evening.
Lisa plays piano on Wednesday afternoon.
David cooks dinner on Thursday night.
Emma reads books on Friday morning.
Now watch what happens when we ask yes/no questions about them.
The Beginning Tells You Everything
Does Maria drink coffee on Monday?
Is Tom at school on Tuesday?
Did Lisa play piano on Wednesday?
Can David cook dinner on Thursday?
Will Emma read books on Friday?
Notice the pattern.
The helping verb at the beginning tells you how to answer.
"Does" means answer with "Yes, she does" or "No, she doesn't."
"Is" means answer with"Yes, he is" or "No, he isn't."
"Did" means answer with "Yes, she did" or "No, she didn't."
But here's the problem.
These helping verbs disappear in fast speech.
How the Chunks Reduce
Does-Maria becomes "Duz-Maria."
Is-Tom becomes "Iz-Tom."
Did-Lisa becomes "Did-Lisa."
Can-David becomes "C'n-David."
Will-Emma becomes “wi-Lemma."
duz-MARIA-drink-COFFEE-on-MONDAY?
iz-TOM-at-SCHOOL-on-TUESDAY?
The helping verb weakens. It blends into a chunk with the name.
Students hear "Maria...coffee...Monday" clearly.
They miss the weak "duz" at the beginning.
So they answer with content: "Coffee."
Wrong answer type.
Why This Matters
I've been teaching in Japan since 1998.
This is the biggest problem with yes/no questions.
Students catch the content words. Maria. Coffee. Monday. School.
They miss the helping verb chunk at the beginning.
So they don't know it's a yes/no question.
They answer with information instead of yes/no.
The question type lives in that first weak chunk.
The Pattern to Listen For
You need to hear the fast weak sound at the very beginning. That's your helping verb chunk.
That chunk tells you the question type.
"Duz" = Does question.
"Iz" = Is question.
"Did" = Did question.
"C'n" = Can question.
"Wil" = Will question.
All these questions can be answered with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
When you catch that first weak chunk, you know exactly how to answer.
Even if you miss some content words, you know the answer type.
Building Question Chunks
Here's what changed everything for my students.
I taught them to listen for the beginning chunk first.
Not the content words first.
The beginning chunk tells you it's a yes/no question.
Once you hear that pattern, you know how to answer.
Then you catch the content words to know what it's about.
Strong beats on content. Weak beats on helping verbs.
But that weak beginning chunk? That's the most important part.
It tells you the question type.
Your Practice Assignment
Practice these question chunks out loud.
duz-MARIA-drink-COFFEE?
iz-TOM-at-SCHOOL?
did-LISA-play-PIANO?
can-DAVID-cook-DINNER?
will-EMMA-read-BOOKS?
Say each one ten times. Feel the weak beginning. Feel the strong content beats.
Then try answering them yourself.