Kind of Questions

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:

Be: When are you leaving?	Who’s been paying the bills?
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

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:

·         Intonation and wh-questions

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?