[Grammar] Is your friend a girl? No, he isn't/ No, it isn't

[angelene001]

Which pronoun should I use in a short answer?
1. Is your friend a girl? No, he isn't.
2. Is your friend a girl? No, it isn't.

 

[sb70012]

Which pronoun should I use in a short answer?
1. Is your friend a girl? No, he isn't.
2. Is your friend a girl? No, it isn't.

Hi,
I would say it depends on his/her sex.
I wouldn't ask like that.

I would say:
Is your friend a male or female? No he is a male/ No she is a female

(I am not a teacher)

 

[bhaisahab]

Which pronoun should I use in a short answer?
1. Is your friend a girl? No, he isn't.
2. Is your friend a girl? No, it isn't.

"Is your friend a girl? No, a boy."

 

[SoothingDave]

Which pronoun should I use in a short answer?
1. Is your friend a girl? No, he isn't.
2. Is your friend a girl? No, it isn't.

Since you know the friend is a boy, you would use "he." He is not an it.

 

[angelene001]

It's an exercise for a workbook for children.
You have to give short answers:
1. Is your favourite colour red? Yes, it is.
2. Are you lucky? No, I'm not.
3. Is your best friend a girl? .........

Is your best friend a girl? Yes, she is.
Is your best friend a girl? No, he isn't.

It sounds a bit strange.

But, as you say, 'it' is not an option here.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It's an exercise for a workbook for children.
You have to give short answers:
1. Is your favourite colour red? Yes, it is.
2. Are you lucky? No, I'm not.
3. Is your best friend a girl? .........

Is your best friend a girl? Yes, she is.
Is your best friend a girl? No, he isn't.

It sounds a bit strange.

But, as you say, 'it' is not an option here.

Less strange would be a longer answer.

Is your best friend a girl? Yes, my best friend is a girl.
Is your best friend a girl? No, my best friend is a boy.

 

[konungursvia]

Textbook dialogues, however, should probably be more focussed than that upon real and natural situations. It is unlikely your question would be used by native speakers. Perhaps one in ten, once in their lives, might feel the need to ask something like that, in the case of a person who wishes to change their social gender. Other than that, I can't see how this question and answer pairing could be seriously weighed.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't have a problem with the question. If I child I didn't know very well said "I went to the park with my best friend earlier", I might well say "Is your best friend a boy or a girl?" Once upon a time, there was an assumption that a girl's best friend would be a girl and a boy's best friend would be a boy. That just isn't true these days. Admittedly, I haven't had many opportunities to ask that question and I would probably say "What's your best friend's name?" (hopefully the sex of the friend would be clear but with kids' names these days, that's not necessarily the case!)

I agree that the question is not one that learners are likely to come across so often that they need to worry about it. The shortest possible answer to the question gives all the required information.

Is your best friend a boy? No. (Anyone hearing this will assume that the best friend is a girl.)
Is your best friend a girl? No. (Same assumption as above, except that we assume the best friend is a boy.)

The short answer need only be elaborated on if the answer is something like "No, my best friend is my dog"!

 

[konungursvia]

One can ask about a "best friend" when that person is not present. When you ask "Does your dog bite?" one presumes the dog is present. Your set of questions is entirely natural. I don't think they are that similar to the original scenario.

 

[emsr2d2]

One can ask about a "best friend" when that person is not present. When you ask "Does your dog bite?" one presumes the dog is present. Your set of questions is entirely natural. I don't think they are that similar to the original scenario.

Why do you say they're not similar to the original scenario? There was no scenario given, just a couple of questions.

 

[Tdol]

But, as you say, 'it' is not an option here.

Not with best friends, but we could use it with babies:

A: Is her baby a girl?
B: No, it's a boy.

 

[Barb_D]

There is an understanding that if I ask you a yes/no question and the answer is no, you will provide the correct information?

Is he flying into Philadelphia? No, he's flying into Baltimore. The fare was much cheaper.
Is your favoriate color red? No, it's yellow.
Did you come in Mary's car? No, I drove myself.
Is this the platform for the train to Dover? No, that train leaves from platform 6. This is the one for York.

When the choice is binary, the "no" itself will do. If the best friend is not a girl, it must be a boy. (Unless, as Ems says, it's the dog or an imaginary friend, or whatever.)