Blog about English
Forming questions with who, what, where, when, why, which and how.
Wh-questions request specific information rather than a simple yes or no answer.
Common question words include who, whom, whose, what, which, where, when, why, and how.
When the question word is not the subject, a wh-question normally places the question word before the auxiliary and subject.
For example, Where do you live? and What did she buy?
When there is no other auxiliary, do, does, or did is used to form a wh-question in the simple present or past.
For example, Where do you work?, What does she want?, and When did they arrive?
When be is the auxiliary or main linking verb, the appropriate form of be moves before the subject.
For example, Where are you? and Why was she late?
A modal verb normally comes before the subject in a wh-question when the question word is not the subject.
For example, What can we do? and Where should I go?
In perfect constructions, the auxiliary have or has comes before the subject.
For example, What have you done? and Where has she gone?
In progressive constructions, the appropriate form of be comes before the subject.
For example, What are you doing? and Why was he running?
When several auxiliaries are present, only the first auxiliary normally moves before the subject.
For example, What will they have been doing? and Why has she been waiting?
Who asks about a person or people and can function as the subject, object, or complement of a clause.
For example, Who called you? and Who did you meet?
Whom is traditionally used as the objective form of who and is mainly associated with formal English.
For example, Whom did you invite? is formal, while Who did you invite? is much more common in ordinary English.
Whose asks about possession or ownership and is normally followed by a noun when used as a determiner.
For example, Whose book is this? and Whose car did you borrow?
What asks about things, information, actions, or identities depending on context.
For example, What happened?, What did you buy?, and What is your name?
Which asks someone to identify one or more items from a defined or limited set.
For example, Which colour do you prefer? and Which of these options is better?
What generally asks about an open set of possibilities, while which usually asks someone to choose from a limited or identifiable set.
Compare What do you want to eat? with Which dessert do you want, the cake or the ice cream?
Where asks about place, location, or destination.
For example, Where do you live? Where did she go? and Where are the keys?
When asks about time or the time at which an event occurs.
For example, When did you arrive? and When will the meeting start?
Why asks about reason or cause.
For example, Why did she leave? and Why are you upset?
How asks about manner, method, condition, or degree depending on the expression that follows it.
For example, How did you do it? and How are you?
How can be followed by an adjective to ask about degree or extent.
For example, How old are you? How difficult was the exam? and How expensive is it?
How can be followed by an adverb to ask about degree or manner.
For example, How quickly can you finish? and How carefully should I check it?
How much asks about an amount of an uncountable noun or about price, quantity, or degree.
For example, How much money do you need? and How much does it cost?
How many asks about the number of countable plural nouns.
For example, How many people came? and How many books do you have?
How long asks about duration, length, or distance depending on context.
For example, How long have you lived here? and How long is the bridge?
How often asks about frequency.
For example, How often do you exercise? and How often does the bus run?
How far asks about distance or, in some contexts, the extent to which an action or situation has progressed.
For example, How far is the station? and How far have they travelled?
How soon asks about the amount of time before a future event occurs.
For example, How soon can you start? and How soon will they arrive?
How come can ask for a reason and is generally conversational and less formal than why.
For example, How come you are late? The structure does not use ordinary question inversion.
A preposition can remain at the end of a wh-question in ordinary English or occur before the question word in formal constructions.
For example, Who are you talking to? and To whom are you speaking?
Some wh-words can be followed by a to-infinitive when the subject and meaning are clear from context.
For example, I do not know what to do, where to go, or how to solve the problem.
A wh-question does not normally use auxiliary inversion when the question word itself functions as the subject.
For example, Who called you? has no did because who is the subject.
A wh-question normally uses auxiliary inversion when the question word functions as the object.
For example, Who did you call? and What did she buy?
Wh-words can combine with nouns, determiners, and other modifiers to form longer question phrases.
For example, Which book did you choose? How many people came? and What kind of music do you like?
Conversational English allows shortened and reduced wh-question forms when the missing material is obvious from context.
For example, What about tomorrow? Where to? and How about John?
Question forms vary in formality depending on vocabulary, syntax, and whether a full or reduced construction is used.
For example, What do you require? is more formal than What do you need?, while To whom are you speaking? is more formal than Who are you talking to?
Form wh-questions by identifying the grammatical role of the question phrase and selecting the appropriate auxiliary, word order, and question expression.
Common mistakes include using do with be, forgetting do-support, using question inversion in subject questions, confusing what and which, using how much with plural count nouns, and using incorrect word order after how come.