Questions: wh-questions
Wh-questions begin with what, when, where, who, whom,
which, whose, why and how. We use
them to ask for information. The answer cannot be yes or no:
A: When do you finish college?
B: Next year.
A: Who is your favourite actor?
B: George Clooney for sure!
Forming wh-questions
With an auxiliary verb
We usually form wh-questions with wh- +
an auxiliary verb (be, do or have) + subject + main
verb or with wh- + a modal verb + subject + main verb:
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Be:
When are you leaving?
|
Who’s been paying
the bills?
|
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Do:
Where do they live?
|
Why didn’t
you call me?
|
|
Have:
What has she done now?
|
What have they
decided?
|
|
Modal:
Who would she stay with?
|
Where should I
park?
|
Without an auxiliary verb
Warning:
When what, who, which or whose is
the subject or part of the subject, we do not use the auxiliary. We use the
word order subject + verb:
What fell off the wall? Which horse
won?
Who bought this? Whose phone
rang?
Compare
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Who
owns this bag?
|
Who is the subject of the sentence and this bag is
the object. We use no auxiliary verb.
|
|
Who
do you love most?
|
Who is the object of the sentence and you is
the subject. We use the auxiliary verb do.
|
Responding to wh-questions
Wh-questions ask for information and we do not expect a yes-no answer
to a wh-question. We expect an answer which gives information:
A: Where’s the coffee machine? (We expect an answer about the
location of the coffee machine.)
B: It’s in the room next to the reception.
A: How old is your dog? (We expect an answer about the age of the dog.)
B: She’s about five. I’m not very sure.
Adding emphasis to wh-questions
We can add emphasis to wh-questions in
speaking by stressing the auxiliary verb do. We usually do this
when we have not already received the information that we expected from an
earlier question, or to show strong interest.
When the wh-word is the object of the
sentence, the do auxiliary is stressed to make it more
emphatic:
A: How was your weekend in Edinburgh?
B: I didn’t go to Edinburgh.
A: Really. Where did you go?
B: We decided to go to Glasgow instead.
When the wh-word is the subject of the
sentence, we can add the auxiliary do to make it emphatic. We
stress do:
A: Ronald Price lives in that house, doesn’t he?
B: No. He moved out.
A: So who does live there? (non-emphatic
question: So who lives there?)
B: Actually, his son is living there now.
See also:
Negative wh-questions
When we ask negative wh-questions, we use the
auxiliary verb do when there is no other auxiliary or modal
verb, even when the wh-word is the subject of the clause:
|
Affirmative
with no auxiliary
|
Negative
with auxiliary do
|
|
Who wants an ice cream?
|
Who
doesn’t want an ice cream?
|
|
Which door opened?
|
Which
door didn’t open?
|
Adding a wh-word at the end
of a statement to make a question
Spoken English:
In speaking, we can sometimes turn wh-questions
into statement questions:
What’s today’s date? or Today’s date is
what?
We do this especially when we are checking information
that we have already been given or when we want to quickly check a particular
detail. These are less formal than full wh-questions:
A: So we’re all going to be there at eight?
B: Right, I’m travelling with Larry.
A: You’re travelling with who? (more formal: Who are you
travelling with?)
B: With Larry. We’re actually going on our bikes.
A: Is your sister here too or just your mother?
B: Just my mother.
A: And she’s here until when? (more formal: And when is
she here until?or even more formal: Until when is she here?)
Intonation and wh-questions
The intonation of wh-questions is normally
falling. The falling intonation is on the most important syllable:
Where are the keys to the back do↘or?
Why are the lights re↘d?
When we ask wh-questions to check or clarify
information that has already been given, we may use rising or fall-rising
intonation:
Wh↗at did you say the time was? (I know you’ve told me before but
I’ve forgotten.)
Wh↘o p↗aid for the meal?
Prepositions and particles with wh-questions
We can use wh-words and phrases after
prepositions in more formal questions:
Where will the money come from?
From where will the money
come? (formal)
Spoken English:
In informal styles, especially in speaking, the
preposition may be separated and placed at the end of the question clause:
What will I talk to her about?
Who should we send the
invitation to? (informal)
Whom should we send the
invitation to? (formal)
To whom should we send the invitation? (more formal)
For what reason did she leave him? (formal: preposition + wh-phrase)
When we make questions shorter, we usually put the
preposition and its complement together:
A: We’re all meeting up tonight.
B: At what time?
Not: What time at?
When we ask questions using verbs consisting of a main
verb + particle, e.g. get up, set out (phrasal verbs), we do
not separate the verb from the particle or preposition:
When did you wake up this
morning?
Not: Up when did you wake?
Yes/No
Question
Definition: An interrogative construction that expects
an answer of “yes” or “no.” Contrast
with wh- question.
Examples and
Observations:
Homer: Are you an
angel?
Moe : Yes, Homer. All us angels wear Farrah
slacks.
(The Simpsons)
“Directing a movie is a
very overrated job, we all know it. You just have to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ What
else do you do? Nothing. ‘Maestro, should this be red?’ Yes. ‘Green?’ No. ‘More
extras?’ Yes. ‘More lipstick?’ No. Yes. No. Yes. No. That’s directing.” (Judi
Dench as Liliane La Fleur in Nine, 2009).
Principal McGee: Are
you just going to stand there all day?
Sonny: No ma’am. I
mean, yes ma’am. I mean, no ma’am.
Principal McGee: Well,
which is it?
Sonny: Um, no ma’am.
(Eve Arden and Michael
Tucci in Grease, 1978)
The yes-no question is
found in three varieties: the inverted question, the typical exemplar of this
kind; the inverted question offering an alternative (which may require more
than a simple yes or no for an answer); and the tag question:
Are you going?
(inversion)
Are you staying or
going? (inversion with alternative)
You’re going, aren’t
you? (tag)
Pattern :
(if the sentence has
helping verb but is main verb be)
Be(am/is/are/was/were)
+ S (+Complement) ?
(If the sentence
doesn’t have helping verb and isn’t main
verb be)
Do/does/did + S + main
verb ?
Tag
Questions
in a tag question, the
speaker makes a statement, but is not completely certain of the truth, so he or
she uses a tag question to verify the previous statement. Sentences using tag
questions should have the main clause separated from the tag by a comma. The
sentence will always end a question mark. Example:
1.
There are only twenty-eight days in
February, aren’t there?
2.
It’s raining now, isn’t it?
3.
The boys don’t have class tomorrow, do
they?
4.
You and i talked with the professor
yesterday, didn’t we?
5.
Jill and Joe have been to Mexico,
haven’t they?
Pattern :
Linking Verb “be” / Auxiliary
Verb +/- Not + Pronoun
Understanding
WH Question Words
WH Question Words is a
question word that begins with the letters "W" and "H".
Type Question Words
There are two types of
sentences in the English question (question words), namely:
1.
WH question words
2.
Yes or no questions
If you want to inquire
about the subject of a sentence, just add a question word at the beginning of
the sentence. Example:
Shelly buys new car. -
Who buys new car?
If you inquire about
the predicate of a sentence (part of a sentence that contains the verb and
provide information about the subject), there are 3 options:
1.
If there is auxiliary verb that precedes
the main verb (such as can, is, are, was, were, will, would, ... etc), please add a question then
followed by auxiliary verb ) And subject. Example:
He can speak Japanese.
- What can he speak?
They are working
tonight. - When are they working?
2.
If you ask predicate but there is no
auxiliary verb and there is only "to be", please add a question then
followed by to be and subject. Example:
The play was
interesting. - How was the play?
3.
If there is no auxiliary verb in the
predicate and the main verb is not "to be", please add auxiliary verb
"do / does" in the appropriate form. Example:
They go to the movies
every Saturday. – When do they go to the movies?
He wakes up early. –
When does he wake up?
Tom sent a letter. –
What did they send?
