What is a question?

 A question is a request for information or

action.
Closed questions or Yes/No questions

 * Closed questions demand a yes/no, true/false or

right/wrong answer.
* When we want to ask yes/no questions we can
use: do/does: They do their homework =
Do they do their homework?
am/is/are: They are English.=
Are they English?
have/has: They have an English book =
Have they an English book?
Other cases:

* However, we can also form this style of questions

with Do…have…? In this case there is no subject-
verb inversion, do is placed before the subject:
They have class every morning.=
Do they have class every morning?
* If there is one verb, and the verb is not a form of be,
the process is more complex. To form a question
add the correct form of the verb 'to do' to the
beginning. Here there is no subject verb inversion.
They speak English.= Do they speak English?
Questions with the Verb To BE
* Affirmative Statement:
SUBJECT + BE + COMPLEMENT ?
Susan is from New York City ?
* Yes/No Questions:
BE + SUBJECT + COMPLEMENT?
Is Susan from Florida ?
* Information Questions:
Wh- word + BE + SUBJ. + COMPLEMENT?
Where is Susan from ?
Open or Wh- Questions

 Wh-questions: are another common kind of

questions. They are also called Information
Questions because the answer to the question
requires more than just a yes-or-no answer.
 There are eight wh-questions - what, when, where,
which, who, whom, whose and why and to this list
we usually add how as they are all used to elicit
particular kinds of information.
Common Question Words
 QUESTION WORDS  ASKS
* Who (m) * asks about people
* Whose * asks about ownership or
possession
* Which * asks about a specific
person, place, etc.
* asks about things
* What
* asks for reasons
* Why
* asks about places
* Where
* asks about time
* When
* asks about manner
* How
How to form Wh- Questions
Question word + Verb + Complement ? Answer

What * is your name ? My name is Peter.

When is the party ? The party is today.
Where are you from ? I'm from England.
Which * is his car ? The red car is his.
Who are you ? I'm Mary.
Whose * is this book ? It's mine.
Why is this book here ? Because it is!
How are you ? I'm fine thanks.

 What, which and whose can be used with or without a noun as a

question word.
For example: What time is it? = What is the time?
Which car is yours? = Which is your car?
Whose book is this? = Whose is this book?
Subject Questions
 There are also subject questions. These are
questions that we ask to find out about the subject.
When, what, which, who or whose refers to the
subject, the question word comes before the verb
without the use of the auxiliary verb.
 For example:-
If the answer is "The plane to London is late."
the question would be "Which plane is late?"
If the answer is "I win the race."
the question would be "Who wins the race?"
Object Questions

 Object questions ask about the object of a sentence.

The word order of the question must be changed
and the question requires the use of the auxiliary
verb 'to do'.
 For example:
If the answer is "I take the plane to London"
the question would be "Which plane do you take?"
If the answer is "I read the newspaper"
the question would be "What do you read?"
More Examples

• Object questions:
What do you do today?
Which film do you like best?
Who do I phone?
• Subject questions:-
What happened today?
Which film is best?
Who phoned me?
Questions with Who?

 Who is used only with people. It normally takes a

singular verb even if the answer is plural. Auxiliary
verbs are not used.

Statement: Dr. Johnson teaches math

Question: Who teaches math?
Answer: Dr. Johnson
Statement: Dr. Johnson and two assistants
teach math.
Question: Who teaches math?
Answer: Dr. Johnson and two assistants.
Questions with Whose?
 Whose replaces a possessive noun or
pronoun.

Statement: Dr. Johnson’s class has a

lot of assignments.
Question: Whose class has a lot of
assignments?
Answer: Dr. Johnson’s
Questions with Which?

 Which replaces a possessive noun or pronoun.

Statement: Psychology Sect.10 has the most

work.
Question: Which psychology section has
the most work?
Which (one) has the most work?
Answer: Psychology Sect.10.
Questions with What?

 What is general more informal than which, and it

usually refers to a large set of people, places or
things unfamiliar to the speaker.

Statement: The amount of homework makes

her class so difficult.
Question: What makes her class so difficult?
Answer: The amount of homework.
Now let’s do some exercises:
1. Use DO or DOES to complete the following present tense questions.
1. Where __________ John live?
2. What time _________ the plane leave?
3. Where __________ they live?
4. How __________ that child go to school?
5. What __________ these girls generally do over the weekend?
6. Who __________ Helen help at home?
7. When __________ we eat lunch in the cafeteria?
8. What __________ the children eat there?
2. Choose the best Wh- word:
1. __________ do you want to eat? Pasta and cheese
2. __________ does she read? The National Geographic Magazine
3. __________ does John drive? Cars and trucks
4. __________ do we get up? Early in the morning
5. __________ does that girl go swimming? At the Club
Check your answers:
1. Use DO or DOES to complete the following present tense questions.
1. Where does John live?
2. What time does the plane leave?
3. Where do they live?
4. How does that child go to school?
5. What do these girls generally do over the weekend?
6. Who does Helen help at home?
7. When do we eat lunch in the cafeteria?
8. What do the children eat there?
2. Choose the best WH word:
1. What do you want to eat? Pasta and cheese
2. What does she read? The National Geographic Magazine
3. What does John drive? Cars and trucks
4. When do we get up? Early in the morning
5. Where does that girl go swimming? At the Club
More exercises…
2. Change the following sentences to questions beginning
with the given question word.
1. They live in Brooklyn. Where ?
2. The lesson begins at 8 o’clock. What time?
3. They get home at 6 o’clock every night. What time?
4. She speaks French very well. What ?
5. Those books cost one dollar. How much?
6. They travel by car. How?
7. She wants to learn English because she
wants a better job. Why ?
8. They meet on the corner every morning. Where?
9. She teaches us grammar. What?
10. He gets up at seven every morning. When?
Check your answers again:
2. Change the following sentences to questions beginning
with the given question word.
1. They live in Brooklyn. Where do they live?
2. The lesson begins at 8 o’clock.
At what time / when does the lesson begin?
3. They get home at 6 o’clock every night.
At what time / when do they get home ?
4. She speaks French very well. What does she speak very well?
5. Those books cost one dollar. How much do they cost?
6. They travel by car. How they travel?
7. She wants to learn English because she wants a better job.
Why does she want to learn English?
8. They meet on the corner every morning. Where do they meet?
9. She teaches us grammar. What does she teach us?
10. He gets up at seven every morning. When does he get up?
Now you are competent asking questions
in English and answering them.
 You start a new term and you meet a new friend.
Ask your new friend:
* 3 Yes/No questions
* 3 Wh- object questions and
* 3 Wh- subject questions
(Do not repeat Wh- words)

Your friend has to answer each question.

Then change rolls.

Next class handle in the written homework.

This presentation is adapted by Mercedes
Urdaneta de González from the following
sources:

* English Grammar - Questions - Asking Questions in English

Learn ...
www.learnenglish.de/grammar/questiontext.htm -
* Yes, I did ncp-filoloca.blogspot.com
* Your English teacher,
* misskatetremblay.weebly.com
* English Exercises: WH Questions - WH WORDS
www.englishexercises.org/.../viewgame.asp?id=1718