Yes/No questions in English

Yes/no questions use a different voice pattern from regular sentences and from information questions. Yes/no questions have rising voice pitch towards the end. The voice pitch starts to rise higher with the key word of the question.

Here is an example. (Click on the video above to hear how this and other yes/no questions actually sound.)

Is it broken?

The question starts with a low pitch.  The voice pitch stays low for the first two words is it.  The key word in this question is broken.  We hear a pitch rise on this word until the end of the question.

An accent training program at Confident Speech includes learning how to use the voice correctly for different phrase and sentence patterns.  Explore our web site to find out about the range of our training options.  Or contact us.