I was writing a text in English to an Italian girl friend of mine whose English is very good. In the text, I asked:
Will you be coming to the staff party on Thursday?
and she replied
Yes, I'll be
I couldn't shrug and ignore it, I had to say something, so I texted back
You should've written: I'll be there :)
But she explained
Given that your question was: "Will you be coming...?" I thought that answering "I'll be" would be correct.
What do I tell her?!?
If the original question had been "Are you coming on Thursday?" or "Can you come on Thursday?" the answers:
(Yes,) I am
Yes, I can
would have been OK.
- What's the grammatical explanation, or rule, that says I'll be (or I will be) is wrong when a question begins with the auxiliary will?
Answer
Heh, I think you answered your own question in your own question. It's wrong precisely because it's a response with an auxiliary verb, and therefore, we do not repeat the other verb in the short response. In other words, she should have said, "Yes, I will."
See Yes/No Questions, Auxiliary Verbs
And to predict your next question, no, she cannot say, "Yes, I'll."
But for this one, I'm not sure why other than to tell you, it's just wrong and sounds wrong.
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