→ Isn't he going? (negative question formation; isn't inverts with he) One alternative is not to use the contraction, in which case only the verb inverts with the subject, while the not remains in place after it: He is not going. → Is he not going? Note that the form with isn't he is no longer a simple contraction of the fuller form (which must be is he not, and not *is not he). Another alternative to contract the auxiliary with the subject, in which case inversion does not occur at all: He's not going. → He's not going? Some more examples: Why haven't you washed? / Why have you not washed? Can't you sing? / Can you not sing? (the full form cannot is redivided in case of inversion) Where wouldn't they look for us? / Where would they not look for us? The contracted forms of the questions are more usual in informal English. They are commonly found in tag questions. For the possibility of using aren't I (or other dialectal alternatives) in place of the uncontracted am I not, see Contractions representing am not above. The same phenomenon sometimes occurs in the case of negative inversion: Not only doesn't he smoke, ... / Not only does he not smoke, ... Notes References Adger, D. 2003. Core Syntax. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Allerton, D. 2006. Verbs and their Satellites. In Handbook of English Linguistics. Aarts & MacMahon (eds.). Blackwell. Bresnan, J. 2001. Lexical-Functional Syntax. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Crystal, D. 1997. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 4th edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers. Culicover, P. 2009. Natural Language Syntax. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Engel, U. 1994. Syntax der deutschen Sprache, 3rd edition. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. Eroms, H.-W. 2000. Syntax der deutschen Sprache. Berlin: de Gruyter. Finch, G. 2000. Linguistic Terms and Concepts. New York: St. Martin's Press. Fowler's Modern English Usage. 1996. Revised third edition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Jurafsky, D. and J. Martin. 2000. Speech and Language Processing. Dorling Kindersley (India): Pearson Education, Inc. / Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Kroeger, P. 2004. Analyzing Syntax: A lexical-functional approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Lewis, M. The English Verb 'An Exploration of Structure and Meaning' . Language Teaching Publications. Osborne, T. and T. Groß 2012. Constructions are catenae: Construction Grammar meets Dependency Grammar. Cognitive Linguistics 23, 1, 165–216. Palmer, F. R.,