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Is it common to ask questions in English by means of intonation alone? For instance the following line from a webpage confuses me:

Since Hindi does not have the auxiliary do, learners are prone to asking questions by means of intonation alone: She has a brother?

http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/hindi.htm

The obvious way to ask this question is "Does she have a brother?". But to me sentences like "You live here?" or "You went shopping?" sound very natural.

Anon37289
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    It's common to ask questions by intonation in back-and-forth everyday conversation, but anyone who wants to be competent in English should learn "Did you go shopping?' and so forth, especially for introducing the topic into conversation. – Xanne Oct 19 '17 at 07:45
  • Yes it is. And the way you say the words - your intonation - can communicate a variety of extra-literal messages. – Dan Oct 20 '17 at 11:03

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It's very common and idiomatic to ask questions using intonation and an affirmative construction (declarative question).

This usage often occurs when the purpose is to communicate incredulity or surprise. In this context (which may well be ironic, sarcastic, sardonic, cynical ...) intonation can be 'deadpan' (i.e. does not necessarily rise at the end) and accompanied by direct eye-contact. The reaction to such a question is often an outburst of emotional release (e.g. laughter or anger) -

"You just walked in without knocking?".

Dan
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