Questions
There are a number of different ways of forming questions in English.
Contents |
Basics
All questions begin with a capital letter and end with a question mark. Two ways of asking questions in written English: inversion and using do:
| statement: | You are Spanish.
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| question: | Are you Spanish?
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| statement: | You speak Spanish.
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| question: | Do you speak Spanish?
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If the verb in a sentence is be, we use inversion to make a question. This means we change the positions of the subject and the verb:
| statement: | {subject} + {be} ...
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| question: | {be} + {subject} ...
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| statement: | They were Spanish.
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| question: | Were they Spanish?
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We also use inversion to make questions with modal and auxiliary verbs:
| statement: | {subject} + {auxiliary/ modal} + [auxiliary] + {main verb}
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| question: | {auxiliary/modal} + {subject} + [auxiliary] + {main verb}
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| statement: | You can see England from here.
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| question: | Can you see England from here?
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| statement: | They should be arriving soon.
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| question: | Should they be arriving soon?
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When the verb in a sentence is not be or modal or auxiliary, we use do to make questions.
| statement: | {subject} + {verb}
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| question: | {do} + {subject} + {infinitive}
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| statement: | You know Simon.
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| question: | Do you know Simon?
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| statement: | He likes pizza.
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| question: | Does he like pizza?
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| statement: | She broke the record.
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| question: | Did she break the record?
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Notice that do changes for the past tense and when we talk about he, she or it in the present tense:
We can also make questions by using a rising intonation at the end of a statement. This is very common in spoken English:
| statement: | You're going.
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with falling intonation
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| question: | You're going?
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with rising intonation
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Alternative questions. These questions are the same as above and use or before the last alternative:
Question Words
As well as inversion and using do, we can also use special question words to make questions. These look for extra information.
| statement: | She lives in Rome.
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| question: | Does she live in Rome?
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| question: | Where does she live?
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To make this kind of question, we use this pattern:
| question word | used for | example | |||
| who | people | Who is your brother? | |||
| what | things | What is your name? | |||
| where | places | Where do you live? | |||
| when | time | When are you leaving? | |||
| why | reasons | Why did I fail? | |||
| how | methods | How does this work? | |||
| whose | possession | Whose car is this? | which | things | Which one is yours? |
Which & What
When we ask in general, we can use what:
When there is a limited choice, we use which:
which and what can also both be followed by noun phrases to ask for specific information:
Formal & Informal
and
We can use whom or what after a preposition; it is very formal.
Reasons
Instead of using why we can often use what...for:
General/Specific
To be very specific, we can say what kind of:
To make a general inquiry, we can use what...like:
More Information
For more information we can use:
See Also
Adverb Cards - a way to practice adverbs and also practice making questions
Lawyer Talking - an activity to practice making questions
