Question forms & subject/object questions
Review of
question forms
Yes/No questions
Yes/No questions
·
Is he a teacher? Yes he is.
·
Can you swim? No, I can’t.
·
Have they got a car? Yes they have.
To form yes/no
questions where there is an auxiliary verb or a modal verb, we invert the
word order of a positive sentence. (He is a teacher > Is he a teacher?)
·
Do you eat fish? No I don’t.
·
Does she know you. Yes she does.
When there is
no auxiliary verb we use ‘do’ to form the question.
With question words
The same rules apply when there is a question word (‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘how’, ‘how much’, ‘how many’)
With question words
The same rules apply when there is a question word (‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘how’, ‘how much’, ‘how many’)
·
Where is the hotel?
·
What can you smell?
·
Who has just arrived?
Where there is
an auxiliary or modal verb, that verb is used to form the question.
·
How did you get here?
·
When do your parents get back?
·
How much does it cost?
Where there is
no auxiliary verb, we use do.
Subject/Object questions
Sometimes you might see questions like this.
Subject/Object questions
Sometimes you might see questions like this.
·
Who broke the window?
·
What happened next?
·
Who told you that?
There is no
auxiliary verb and the word order is not inverted.
These are called subject questions – because the question word is the subject of the sentence.
Look at these two questions.
These are called subject questions – because the question word is the subject of the sentence.
Look at these two questions.
·
Who does Romeo love? Romeo loves
Juliet.
·
Who loves Romeo? Juliet loves Romeo.
In the first
question, Romeo is the subject of the verb.
In the second question ‘who’ is the subject and Romeo is the object.
In the second question ‘who’ is the subject and Romeo is the object.
Question tags
Question tags
are the short questions that we put on the end of sentences – particularly in
spoken English. There are lots of different question tags but the rules are not
difficult to learn.
Positive/negative
If the main part of the sentence is positive, the question tag is negative ….
Positive/negative
If the main part of the sentence is positive, the question tag is negative ….
·
He’s a doctor, isn’t he?
·
You work in a bank, don’t you?
... and if the
main part of the sentence is negative, the question tag is positive.
·
You haven’t met him, have you?
·
She isn’t coming, is she?
With auxiliary
verbs
The question tag uses the same verb as the main part of the sentence. If this is an auxiliary verb (‘have’, ‘be’) then the question tag is made with the auxiliary verb.
The question tag uses the same verb as the main part of the sentence. If this is an auxiliary verb (‘have’, ‘be’) then the question tag is made with the auxiliary verb.
·
They’ve gone away for a few days,
haven’t they?
·
They weren’t here, were they?
·
He had met him before, hadn’t he?
·
This isn’t working, is it?
Without
auxiliary verbs
If the main part of the sentence doesn’t have an auxiliary verb, the question tag uses an appropriate form of ‘do’.
If the main part of the sentence doesn’t have an auxiliary verb, the question tag uses an appropriate form of ‘do’.
·
I said that, didn’t I?
·
You don’t recognise me, do you?
·
She eats meat, doesn’t she?
With modal
verbs
If there is a modal verb in the main part of the sentence the question tag uses the same modal verb.
If there is a modal verb in the main part of the sentence the question tag uses the same modal verb.
·
They couldn’t hear me, could they?
·
You won’t tell anyone, will you?
With ‘I am’
Be careful with question tags with sentences that start ‘I am’. The question tag for ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t I?’
Be careful with question tags with sentences that start ‘I am’. The question tag for ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t I?’
·
I’m the fastest, aren’t I?
Intonation
Question tags can either be ‘real’ questions where you want to know the answer or simply asking for agreement when we already know the answer.
If the question tag is a real question we use rising intonation. Our tone of voice rises.
If we already know the answer we use falling intonation. Our tone of voice falls.
Question tags can either be ‘real’ questions where you want to know the answer or simply asking for agreement when we already know the answer.
If the question tag is a real question we use rising intonation. Our tone of voice rises.
If we already know the answer we use falling intonation. Our tone of voice falls.
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