[ti:Questions, Answers about Holiday Activities]
[al:Everyday Grammar]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-01-06]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Imagine you are talking to an American. 
[00:03.81]You are curious to know about what they did during the holidays of Christmas and New Year's.
[00:11.19]How can you ask about these or other holidays? 
[00:15.24]How can you build a discussion about the holiday season?
[00:20.00]In this Everyday Grammar, we will explore how you can form common questions and answers about the holidays.
[00:29.72]Let's start with some important terms and ideas.
[00:34.26]The Christmas and New Year's holidays are important in the United States.
[00:40.04]Common good wishes during the season include "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year!"
[00:46.36]But how do you build a discussion around the subject of such holidays?
[00:52.00]You can start with yes or no questions, which involve the helping verb "do."
[00:59.59]The structure is generally:
[01:01.99]Do+ subject + celebrate + the holiday.
[01:08.96]For example, you might ask
[01:11.32]Do you celebrate Christmas?
[01:14.66]Or
[01:15.74]Do you celebrate New Year's Eve?
[01:19.21]The person you ask these questions to might answer with a yes or a no.
[01:25.86]Both answers can lead to interesting discussions. 
[01:30.10]But for the sake of today's report, let's assume the answer is "yes."
[01:36.46]You can follow up with more detailed questions about what the person did for Christmas and New Year's.
[01:43.55]You might need to ask open-ended questions - questions that are not asking for a yes or no answer.
[01:52.16]The word "what" is often commonly used to ask open-ended questions about basic actions. 
[01:59.05]We combine "what" with the helping verb "do" to form the following structure:
[02:05.99]What + do + subject + do + rest of the sentence
[02:13.85]Notice that the verb "do" appears twice in the structure. 
[02:18.55]Here is how one might use this structure to ask about holiday activities:
[02:25.22]What did you do for Christmas?
[02:28.44]or
[02:29.95]What did you do on New Year's Eve?
[02:33.39]Note that the first example of "do" is in its past tense form - "what did..." This is because we are asking about an event in the past.
[02:45.54]You could hear answers that go in a few different directions.
[02:49.62]One of the most common answers will involve the simple past forms of the verbs go, see, or visit.
[02:57.96]For example, a person might say "I went to my grandparent's house," or "We saw our cousins," or "We visited my brother."
[03:09.63]Note that the person could be speaking for themselves and use the subject pronoun "I," or they could be speaking for their family and use the subject pronoun "we."
[03:22.41]Now let's work with these ideas.
[03:25.96]Ask a yes or no question about the holiday Hanukkah.
[03:30.77]It is a Jewish holiday around the end of the year.
[03:34.85]Pause the audio to consider your answer.
[03:38.39]Here is one possible answer:
[03:42.19]Do you celebrate Hanukkah?
[03:44.76]For this next question, imagine that you celebrated New Year's Eve in New York City's Times Square.
[03:52.92]How would you use the verb "see" if someone asked you about what you did?
[03:58.95]Pause the audio to consider your answer.
[04:03.07]Here are a few possible answers:
[04:06.55]I saw crowds and decorations.
[04:10.45]Or,
[04:11.45]I saw the ball drop.
[04:14.19]There are, of course, other answers. What is important is that you use the past form "saw," as in "I saw..."
[04:23.76]The next time you hear Americans discuss the holiday season, pay careful attention to the kinds of questions and answers that they give. 
[04:32.68]Such questions and answers are not only useful for talking about holidays but for many other activities as well!
[04:42.40]I'm John Russell.