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I want to ask a question about a piece of text.

Is the text about McDonalds Corporation or McDonalds Products?

I want the answer to be "Yes"/"No", rather than "McDonalds Corporation"/"McDonalds Products."

How do I ask the question unambiguously? Should I start with "Answer Yes or No:"?

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1 Answer

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One way would be to prefix the answer selection with "Answer Yes or No". However, I would recommend the following:

Is this question about either McDonalds Corporation or McDonalds Products?

The word either suggests that either of the two options is accessible, which in the context of a yes/no question forces the interpretation that you desire.

If there are three or more things, try "any of":

Is this question about any of apples, pears, or pineapples?

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I would suggest one more change: ...McDonald's corporation or their products ... – JeffSahol Aug 26 '11 at 23:24
2  
"McDonald's corporation or its products." – kiamlaluno Aug 27 '11 at 0:08
I still read all these versions as ambiguous. I think it's unusual to need to make this distinction, since even if someone answers with either one of the two options then you should be able to understand that the answer you wanted is "yes", and probably for that reason the language hasn't really developed a non-ambiguous way to ask this. You can always add a sentence before or after the question to the effect of "I would like a single yes-or-no answer." – bdsl Apr 16 '12 at 23:29

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