Short polar answer

A short answer is an answer to a polar question (also known as a "yes/no question"), typically involving the use of a pronoun and modal verb with or without negation. This can be contrasted with a very short answer (which is shorter still) and a long answer.

Form

Verb	Verb inflection	Tense	Pronouns	Example yes response	Example uncontracted no response	Example contracted no response(s)	Notes
be	am	present	I	Yes, I am	No, I am not	No, I’m not
	are	present	you, we, they	Yes, you are	No, you are not	No, you’re not / No, you aren’t
	is	present	he, she, it, one	Yes, it is	No, it is not	No, it isn’t / No it’s not
	was	past	I, he, she, it, one	Yes, I was	No, I was not	No, I wasn’t
	were	past	you, we, they	Yes, you were	No, you were not	No you weren’t
do	do	present	I, you, we, they	Yes, I do.	No, I do not.	No, I don’t.
	does	present	he, she, it, one	Yes, it does.	No, it does not.	No, it doesn’t.
	did	past	All	Yes, I did.	No, I did not.	No, I didn’t.
have	have	present	I, you, we, they	Yes, I have.	No, I have not.	No I haven’t.
	has	present	he, she, it	Yes, it has.	No, it has not.	No, it hasn’t.
	had	past	All	Yes, I had	No, I had not.	No, I hadn’t.
can	can	present	All	Yes, I can.	No, I cannot	No, I can’t
	could	past	All	Yes, I could	No, I could not.	No, I couldn’t
will	will	present	All	Yes, I will.	No, I will not.	No, I won’t
	would	past	All	Yes, I would	No, I would not.	No, I wouldn’t.
may	may	present	All	Yes, I may.	No, I may not.	?No, I mayn’t.	“Mayn’t" is rare
	might	past	All	Yes, I might.	No, I might not.	No, I mightn’t.
must	must	Both	All	Yes, I must.	No, I must not.	No, I mustn’t.
shall	shall	present	All	Yes, I shall.	No, I shall not.	No, I shan’t.
	should	past	All	Yes, I should.	No, I should not.	No, I shouldn’t.
ought to	ought to	present	All	Yes, I ought to.	No, I ought not to.	No, I oughtn’t to.
dare	dare	present	All	Yes, I dare.	No, I dare not.	No, I daren’t.
need	need	present	All	Yes, I need.	No, I need not.	No, I needn’t.

Pronunciation

Note that affirmative short answers require the stressed, non-contracted form: Yes, I am. (*Yes, I’m./Yes, I will. (*Yes, I’ll.).

Pedagogy

It is important that students learn to include the modal verb after "yes" or "no" as answering with a simple "yes" or "no" will be taken by a native speaker to indicate that the speaker is either being rude or has no interest in the conversation and the conversation will end abruptly, with both parties possibly feeling mildly offended. Obviously the speaker can omit the “I do" part if (s)he then goes on to say something else immediately afterwards:

• Does she speak English? - No, but she’s started taking lessons.

Students should also take care to repeat the modal or auxiliary and not the verb. In other words, the answer to the question Do you like chocolate? is Yes, I do. (*Yes, I like.). (The longer, more complex, answer to this is that it’s OK to say “Yes, I verb" only if the verb is used intransitively. Thus, e.g. we can ask “Do you dance?" and respond either “Yes, I do" or “Yes, I dance.” The problem is that like is a transitive verb which cannot be used intransitively and therefore needs an object, so *“Yes, I like" is ungrammatical but “Yes, I like it/that" is grammatical. Don’t try to explain this though, just correct them to “Yes, I do.”)

Not all questions beginning with Did/Are you…? etc. lead to a simple yes/no answer. One way of getting students to respond more fully is by asking "either/or" questions, for instance, Did you…, or were you..?

Depending on context, some polar questions, such as Would you like a cup of tea?, require a totally different response, i.e. Yes, please./No, thanks.