QUESTION FORMS ~ Grammar

QUESTION FORMS

Questions can be a little difficult in English. The first thing to remember is that there are two main kinds, 'yes / no'and 'wh':

➤ The 'yes / no' kind need the answer 'yes' or 'no'.

For example:

● Do you like chocolate?

● Is he from India?

● Have you been to Japan?

➤ A 'wh' one needs more information in the answer. It uses a question word like 'where', 'why', 'how' etc.

● Where do you live?

● What did she do yesterday?

● Where is the station

➤ ➤ They are made in three different ways in English grammar depending on the verb tense:

We change the position (or 'invert') the verb and the subject.

This is used for the present simple and the past simple of 'be' and for modal verbs

We add an extra word, like 'do / does' or 'did'.

This is used for the past simple and the present simple of all other English verbs (not 'be').

We change the position of the first auxiliary verb and the subject.

This is for all other tenses, for example the present perfect, the present continuous or the future perfect continuous.

➤ To make the 'wh' kind, just put the question word in front of any 'yes / no' question:

Is he coming ('yes / no') becomes When is he coming? ('wh')

TAG QUESTIONS

➤ Tag questions (or question tags) turn a statement into a question. They are often used for checking information that we think we know is true.

➤ Tag questions are made using an auxiliary verb (for example: be or have) and a subject pronoun (for example: I, you, she). Negative question tags are usually contracted: It's warm today, isn't it (not 'is it not')

➤ Usually if the main clause is positive, the question tag is negative, and if the main clause is negative, it's positive. For example:

It's cold (positive), isn't it (negative)? And: It isn't cold (negative), is it (positive)?

➤ If the main clause has an auxiliary verb in it, you use the same verb in the tag question. If there is no auxiliary verb (in the present simple and past simple) use do / does / did (just like when you make a normal question).

➤ ➤ ➤

There is one weird EXCEPTION: the question tag after I am is aren't I.

For example:

I'm in charge of the food, aren't I?

SUBJECT AND OBJECT QUESTIONS

➤ Usually, when we ask a question, we want to know about the object of the answer:

- What did you lose?

- I lost my purse.

➤ ‘My purse’ is the object of the answer and ‘what’ is the object of the question. (The subject of the question is ‘you’.)

Here’s another example:

- Who did John meet?

- John met Lucy.

‘Lucy’ is the object of the answer and ‘who’ is the object of the question.

➤ When we usually learn about how to make a question, we learn about object questions, because they are the most common type of question. The normal rules that you learn about making questions, such as inverting the question word and the auxiliary verb, or adding ‘do’, ‘does’ or ‘did’, are all used in object questions.

However, sometimes we want to ask a question where the thing we want to know is actually the subject of the answer.

Here’s an answer:

- Lucy kissed John.

We can ask about John, in a normal object question:- Who did Lucy kiss? But we can also ask about Lucy: - Who kissed John?

➤ ‘Who kissed John?’ is a subject question. We don’t need to use inversion, or add ‘did’. Instead, we just take out ‘Lucy’ from the answer (which is a normal sentence) and add ‘who’. We generally make subject questions using ‘who’ or ‘what’.

➤ Some more examples:

James dropped the glass.

Object question: What did James drop? Subject question: Who dropped the glass?

We will read the book.

Object question: What will you read? Subject question: Who will read the book?

Amanda washed the car.

Object question: What did Amanda wash? Subject question: Who washed the car?

The students like their new professor.

Object question: Who do the students like? Subject question: Who likes the new professor?

I’m buying some bread.

Object question: What are you buying? Subject question: Who is buying some bread?

INDIRECT QUESTIONS

➤ Have a look at this conversation.

- Excuse me. Could you tell me where the nearest station is?

- Certainly. It's along that road on the right.

- Thank you. And do you know if there's a supermarket near here?

- Yes, there's one next to the station.

- Thank you very much for your help.

➤ I use indirect questions when I'm asking for help in the street, because they are very polite. Indirect questions start with a phrase like 'could you tell me...' or 'do you know...'. For example:

Direct question: Where is the bank?

Indirect question: Could you tell me where the bank is?

➤ Notice that in the indirect question I put the verb ('is') after the subject ('the bank'), in the same way as I do with a normal positive sentence ('the bank is over there'), but in the direct question I put the verb 'is' before the subject 'the bank'. This is called inversion, and it is used to make direct questions in many verb tenses in English, but we don't use inversion in indirect questions. This is very similar to the grammar of reported questions. However, we use indirect questions in a different way from reported questions. Indirect questions are a way of being polite. They are very, very common in English, especially when you're talking to someone you don't know.

'YES / NO' INDIRECT QUESTIONS

➤ To make an indirect 'yes / no' question, we use 'if' and the word order of a normal positive sentence. This is the same as for reported 'yes / no' questions. On the other hand, we don't usually need to 'backshift' (change the tense of the verb) as we do with reported questions.

Of course, most tenses make questions by using 'inversion' (changing the word order). To change from a direct 'yes / no' question with inversion to an indirect question, you add 'if' and change the word order back to a normal positive sentence. You don't need to use inversion.