Simple Guide to Asking Questions in English

What is a question?

Closed questions

Open questions

Object questions

Subject questions

Tag questions

What is a tag question?

How are they formed?

Why do we use them?

Direct and Indirect Questions

What is a question?

A question is a request for information or action.

When writing a question you should always end the sentence with a question mark (?).

Closed 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, am/is/are or have/has as question
words. We use do or have or am with personal pronouns (I), we use does or has or is with third
person singular pronouns (he, she, it) and with singular noun forms. We use do or have or are
with other personal pronouns (you, we they) and with plural noun forms.

Yes/no questions with the verb be are created by moving the verb be to the beginning of the
sentence. In other words the subject and the verb change their positions in statements and
questions.

Statement: I am from England. Question: Am I from England?

When forming questions in the present continuous tense use the verb be.
 speaking
I am speaking English. = Am I
English?
speaking
You are speaking English. = Are you
English?
speaking
He is speaking English. = Is he
English?
speaking
She is speaking English. = Is she
English?
speaking
It is speaking English. = Is it
English?
speaking
We are speaking English. = Are we
English?
speaking
They are speaking English. = Are they
English?

When forming questions in the present simple tense use the verb be, do, or have. The auxiliary
verb is placed before the subject.

To Be

If there is one verb in the statement and the verb is a form of be , simply switch the positions of
the subject and verb.

I am English. = Am I English?
You are English. = Are you English?
He is English. = Is he English?
She is English. = Is she English?
It is English. = Is it English?
We are English. = Are we English?
They are English. = Are they English?

To Do

If there is one verb in the statement and the verb is do, simply switch the positions of the subject
and verb.

I do. = Do I?
You do. = Do you?
He does. = Does he?
She does. = Does she?
It does. = Does it?
We do. = Do we?
They do. = Do they?

To Have
If there is one verb in the statement and the verb is have, (with or without got to show
possession), switch the positions of the subject and verb.

(got) an English
I have = Have I (got) an English book?
book.
(got) an English
You have = Have you (got) an English book?
book
(got) an English
He has = Has he (got) an English book?
book
(got) an English
She has = Has she (got) an English book?
book
(got) an English
It has = Has it (got) an English book?
book
(got) an English
We have = Have we (got) an English book?
book
(got) an English
They have = Have they (got) an English book?
book

We can also form this style of question with Do…have…? here there is no subject-verb
inversion, do is placed before the subject.

have breakfast every have breakfast every

I = Do I
morning. morning?
have breakfast every have breakfast every
You = Do you
morning. morning?
has breakfast every have breakfast every
He = Does he
morning. morning?
has breakfast every have breakfast every
She = Does she
morning. morning?
has breakfast every have breakfast every
It = Does it
morning. morning?
have breakfast every have breakfast every
We = Do we
morning. morning?
have breakfast every have breakfast every
They = Do they
morning. 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.

I speak English. = Do I speak English?

You speak English. = Do you speak English?
He speaks English. = Does he speak English?
She speaks English. = Does she speak English?
 It speaks English. = Does it speak English?
We speak English. = Do we speak English?
They speak English. = Do they speak English?

Answering a Closed Question

For example: "Are you from England?"

You can answer closed questions with "Yes" or "No".

You can also answer closed questions with a slightly longer answer "Yes, I am." or "No, I'm
not."

Finally you can answer closed questions in the long form "Yes, I am from England." or "No, I'm
not from England."

Open Questions

Open questions leave room for a description or opinion, and are more useful in eliciting
information

Open questions are often called Wh.. questions:-

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.

You use what when you are asking for information about something.
You use when to ask about the time that something happened or will happen.
You use where to ask questions about place or position.
You use which when you are asking for information about one of a limited number of things.
You use who or whom when you are asking about someone's identity.
You use whose to ask about possession.
You use why to ask for a reason.
You use how to ask about the way in which something is done.

Question word Verb + Answer

What is your name? My name is Lynne.
When is the party? The party is on Tuesday.
Where are you from? I'm from England.
Which is your car? The red car is mine.
Who are you? I'm Lynne.
Whose is this web site? It's mine.
Why is this web site 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 web site is this? = Whose is this web site?

Whom can only be used to elicit information about the object of the sentence. Although using
whom would be grammatically correct, we normally use who instead because it doesn’t sound so
formal.

For example:-

"Whom did you see?" would normally be expressed as "Who did you see?"

Who, what, which and whose can all be used to elicit information about the subject or object of
the sentence.

For example:-

If the answer is "I ate the banana." the object question would be "What did you eat?" and the
subject question would be "Who ate the banana?"

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 caught the train to London." the question would be "Which train did you
catch?"
If the answer is "I saw a film yesterday." the question would be "What did you do yesterday?"

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 train to London was late." the question would be "Which train was late?"
If the answer is "I won the race." the question would be "Who won the race?"

More examples:-

Object questions:-
What did you do today?
Which film did you like best?
Who did I phone?

Subject questions:-
What happened today?
Which film is best?
Who phoned me?

Tag Questions

What is a tag question?

A tag question is a short question added to the end of a positive or negative statement.

For example:-

He is, isn't he?

He does, doesn't he?
He will, won't he?
He can, can't he?

How are they formed?

Normally a positive statement is followed by a negative tag, and a negative statement is followed
by a positive tag.

For example:-

+ -
You're English, aren't you?
- +
You're not
are you?
German,
! The statement and the tag are always separated by a comma.

The verb in the statement should be the same tense as the verb in the tag.

For example:-

Present tense present tense

You are a good singer, aren't you?
Past tense past tense
You didn't go to work
did you?
yesterday,
Present perfect tense present perfect tense
You have been to London, haven't you?

If the verb used in the statement is an auxiliary verb, then the verb used in the tag must match it.
If a modal (can, could, will, should, etc.) is used in the statement, then the same modal is used in
the tag part. If the statement doesn't use an auxilliary verb, then the auxiliary do is used in the tag
part.

For example:-

Auxiliary verb  
She is from England, isn't she?
They aren't very nice, are they?
She doesn't like it here, does she?
Modal verb  
You can sing, can't you?
They shouldn't do that, should they?
No auxiliary  
He eats meat, doesn't he?

Why do we use them?

Tag questions are used to verify or check information that we think is true or to check
information that we aren't sure is true. Sometimes we just use them for effect.

We show the meaning of the tag question through intonation.

If the tag is a real question it has a rising intonation.

For example:-
 The chairman's coming at 3.00, isn 't he?
If the tag is not a real question it has a flat or falling intonation.

For example:-

It's a nice day today, isn't it?

! It is possible for a positive statement to be followed by a positive tag for even more effect
(sarcasm, anger, disbelief, shock, concern etc.).

For example:-

Oh you will, will you?

You think you're funny, do you?

Direct and Indirect Questions

First I would like to say that this is my explanation of what direct and indirect questions are, and
not everyone would agree with me.

When you ask a direct question, like "What time is the meeting?" you're being quite informal,
some might even say abrupt, or even rude. You can make it more polite by adding please, "What
time is the meeting, please?", but to be even more polite we rephrase it into an indirect question;
"Do you know what time the meeting is?", or "Could you tell me what time the meeting is?" and
if you want to be really OTT "Could you tell me what time the meeting is, please?"

They're all the same question as "What time is the meeting?", but we think it's more polite to
rephrase it, it can be confusing, and some people even think it's long-winded and unnecessary.

Other ways of starting indirect questions are:-

Would you mind telling me...

Can you tell me...
Have you any idea what ....

!Note - when you're asking an indirect question there's no change in word order.

What time is it?

The time is ...
Could you tell me what the time is?
Just to confuse you, some people include what I call "reported questions" under the term
"indirect questions", the confusion arises from direct and indirect speech. To me a reported
question is when you are reporting what someone else asked. For example: "She asked me what
the time was." (No question mark.)

Other people include things like, "Tell me the time!" but to me that's not a question, it's a
command. (Again no question mark).

I hope this helps.