Blog about English
Frequent learner mistakes involving English questions.
The form of an English question depends on whether it is a yes/no question, wh-question, subject question, object question, indirect question, or another special type.
Identify the type of question before choosing its word order and auxiliary.
A question normally requires an auxiliary or modal unless the lexical verb itself is an appropriate form of be or the question has a special structure.
For example, Where do you live? rather than Where you live?
Do-support is required with ordinary present and past simple lexical verbs when no other auxiliary is present.
For example, Does she work here? rather than Is she work here?
Do-support is not normally used when be is the auxiliary or main verb.
For example, Is she ready? rather than Does she be ready?
Do-support is not normally used together with modal verbs.
For example, Can you swim? rather than Do you can swim?
After did, the lexical verb normally returns to its base form.
For example, Did she go? rather than Did she went?
After does, the lexical verb normally appears in the base form rather than the third-person singular form.
For example, Does he work here? rather than Does he works here?
In an ordinary direct question, the first auxiliary normally moves before the subject.
For example, Have you finished? rather than You have finished?
A normal subject question does not use do-support merely because the verb is in the present or past simple.
For example, Who called you? rather than Who did call you? except for deliberate emphasis.
An object question in the simple present or past normally requires do, does, or did when there is no other auxiliary.
For example, Who did you meet? and What does she want?
The question word must be identified as the subject or object before selecting the word order.
Compare Who called you? with Who did you call?
An indirect question normally uses statement word order inside the embedded clause.
For example, Do you know where she lives? rather than Do you know where does she live?
Do-support used in a direct question normally disappears when the question is embedded in another clause.
For example, Do you know where he works? rather than Do you know where does he work?
An indirect question inside a statement does not normally make the entire sentence a question.
For example, I do not know where she lives. is a statement, while Do you know where she lives? is a question.
If and whether can both introduce many indirect yes/no questions, but whether is preferred in some formal structures and before alternatives or a to-infinitive.
For example, I do not know whether to stay or leave.
Who is normal in most spoken and informal object questions, while whom is mainly associated with formal object positions.
For example, Who did you invite? is ordinary, while Whom did you invite? is formal.
Use what for a generally open set of possibilities and which for a defined or limited set.
For example, What do you want? versus Which one do you want, the red one or the blue one?
Use how much with uncountable nouns and how many with countable plural nouns.
For example, How much money? but How many books?
How long asks about duration or length, while how often asks about frequency.
For example, How long do you stay? versus How often do you visit?
How far normally asks about distance, while how long can ask about duration or physical length.
For example, How far is the station? versus How long is the journey?
Whose is the possessive question word, while who's is a contraction of who is or who has.
For example, Whose bag is this? versus Who's coming?
How come can introduce a conversational question using statement word order rather than normal auxiliary inversion.
For example, How come you are late? rather than How come are you late?
Negative questions can express expectation, surprise, criticism, suggestion, or confirmation, so their meaning cannot always be inferred from negation alone.
For example, Didn't you call him? may imply that the speaker expected a call.
Answers to negative questions follow the truth of the proposition rather than simply copying the polarity of the question.
For example, Didn't he come? Yes, he did means that he came; No, he didn't means that he did not come.
A positive statement normally takes a negative tag, while a negative statement normally takes a positive tag.
For example, She is here, isn't she? and She isn't here, is she?
The auxiliary or modal in the tag normally matches the auxiliary or modal in the main statement.
For example, He has finished, hasn't he? and She can swim, can't she?
Echo questions can use statement-like word order and final question words in conversation, so they should not always be forced into ordinary wh-question syntax.
For example, You bought what? can be a natural echo question, although What did you buy? is the ordinary information question.
A preposition can remain at the end of an ordinary question or occur before the question phrase in formal English.
For example, Who are you talking to? and To whom are you speaking?
Informal conversation can use declarative word order with questioning intonation to seek confirmation.
For example, You're coming with us? can function as a question in speech.
Some embedded questions can be reduced to a question word followed by a to-infinitive when the understood subject is clear.
For example, I don't know what to do, where to go, or how to solve it.
Question formation differs when have is a lexical verb of possession and when have is a perfect auxiliary.
For example, Do you have a car? versus Have you finished?
In existential questions, the auxiliary normally occurs before there.
For example, Is there a problem? and Are there any tickets left?
Passive questions retain the passive construction while moving the first auxiliary before the subject.
For example, Was the package delivered? and Has the report been completed?
Correct question formation requires control of auxiliary selection, inversion, do-support, subject and object roles, question-word choice, embedded word order, negation, tags, and special conversational structures.
Before forming a question, identify what information is being requested and the grammatical role of the questioned element.