Questions

OverviewOverview

Questions in English have a specific word order. In question

word order, an auxiliary verb must come before the subject.

The most common word order of sentences in English is:

Subject Verb

George is working.

Jane will return.

When we make a question, this order is changed. The auxiliary of the verb comes in front of the subject.

Aux. Subj. Main verb

Is George working?

Will Jane return?

The present simple and the past simple tenses of the verb have no auxiliary verb, however.

Subject Verb

Shelley smokes.

You swim.

They paid.

For this reason, in these two times, we use the verb to do as the question auxiliary.

Aux. Subj. Main verb

Does Shelley smoke?

Do you swim?

Did they pay?

One exception to the need of an auxiliary for question word order is:

To Be

Subject Verb Complement

Luisa is German.

Rio and SP are big cities.

His answers were wrong.

In questions with the verb to be, there is no need to use an auxiliary. The verb goes in front of the subject.

Verb Subject Complement

Is Luisa German.

Are Rio and SP big cities.

Were his answers wrong.

There are several different types of questions.

• Confirmation questions (Yes/No)

• Information questions

• Statements as questions (He's getting married? I beg you pardon? Excuse me?) **

• Tag questions

• Negative question

• One-word questions (How? Who? So?)

• Indirect questions**

CONFIRMATION QUESTIONS

Questions that begin with the auxiliary verbs are known as confirmation or yes/no questions. All the information is already present in the sentence so we are only looking for confirmation that the information is correct (yes) or incorrect (no).

INFORMATION QUESTIONS Information questions are questions that begin with

question pronouns. These pronouns identify the type of information wanted.

Question pronouns are:What (things)

Where (places)When (time)Why (reason)Who (person)

Which (choice)Whose (possession)

How (form)

They can be used alone or, especially with how and what, with other words to make phrases which specify the type of information wanted:

How muchHow far

How manyWhat time What colorWhich belt

In information questions, the question pronoun or phrase will appear in front of the question auxiliary. As in confirmation questions, the question auxiliary will come before the subject.

Where is Sally?

What have they done lately?

How often can she come to Brasilia?

There is one exception to this rule.

When the information that is wanted (the question pronoun or phrase) is also the subject of the sentence, an auxiliary is used only if it is already a part of the sentence, and it comes right after the question.

Question = Subject

What happened? (The accident happened.)

Which answer is right? (The last one is right.)

STATEMENTS AS QUESTIONSOrally, statements may be used as questions by giving them a rising intonation.They are used when the speaker believes he knows the information but wants to check or to show surprise.

You just came back from London?

These types of questions, sometimes called echo questions because theyrepeat what has been said, are usually used as a reaction to something that has been said and express surprise or disbelief. You can also use a question word in the place of the information that surprises:

You just came back from where?

Tag questions are the combination of a sentence with a “tag” added to it.

This “tag” is made up of – the auxiliary that would be used if the

sentence were a question;– the pronoun that matches the subject of that

sentence.

Tag questions aren’t difficult, are they?

Tag questions

• Tag questions are used to confirm or to check information, like statement questions.

This meal is wonderful, isn't it? Katy won't be late, will she?

• If the answer isn’t known, these are real questions, and a rising intonation is used with the tag question.

You don’t have a pen, do you?

Negative Questions

There are two types of negative questions: – Contracted

• More formal• The negative “not” comes after the subject

Who have you not contacted yet?

– Not contracted • Common in polite requests, invitations, offers, complaints

and criticisms.• The negative “not” is contracted with the question auxiliary

Why don’t you contact me tomorrow?

Negative Questions

In answer to negative yes/no questions,

• yes suggests a positive answer– Haven’t you done your homework?

• Yes. (I have done my homework.)

• no suggests a negative answer.– Didn’t you call your mother?

• No. (I forgot.)

One-word questions

One-word questions are used informally (orally) to ask for more information after a statement. It is the continuation of the conversation.

» George is going to Chicago. » When?» Tomorrow night. » For how long?» Until next week.

Indirect questions

Indirect questions may or may not be actual questions. There is an introduction to the information that is needed.

Direct question: What’s John doing tomorrow?Indirect question: Can you tell me what John is doing tomorrow?Indirect question: I’d like to know what John is doing tomorrow.

Because of the introduction, the information needed is no longer a question, but a dependent clause and reverts to regular word order,where the subject comes before the verb.

Indirect questions

In indirect questions,

the connecting point between

the introduction and the information desired is

the question pronoun.

Could you tell me what your name is?

Indirect questionsWith yes/ no questions, where there is no

question pronoun, whether or if become the connecting point.

Do you know if Jason is coming?