Question

Questions

By Mr. Makmurdi

In questions we usually put the subject after the first verb:

Tom will —» will Tom? Will Tom be here tomorrow?

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you have —> have you? Have you been working hard?

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the house was —» was the house? When was the house built?

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In present simple questions, we use do/does:

you live —» do you live? o Do you live near here?

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the film starts —> does the film start? o What time does the film start?

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In past simple questions, we use did:

you sold -> did you sell? o Did you sell your car?

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the train stopped —> did the train stop? o Why did the train stop?

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somebody phoned Emma.

​ subject

Who phoned Emma?

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who subject

Emma phoned somebody.

object

Who did Emma phone?

who object

But do not use do/does/did if who/what etc. is the subject of the sentence.

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​In these examples, who/what etc. is the subject:

Who wants something to eat? (not Who does want)

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What happened to you last night? (not What did happen)

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How many people came to the meeting? (not did come)

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Which bus goes to the centre? (not does go)

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Replace this text with your body text.

​Duplicate this text as many times as you would like.

​I hit somebody

Who hit you?

​Somebody hit me.

​Isn't it ... ? / Didn't you ... ? etc.

(negative questions)

We use negative questions especially to show surprise:

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Didn't you hear the doorbell? I rang it three times.

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or when we expect the listener to agree with us:

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‘Haven't we met before?' 'Yes, I think we have.'

Note the meaning of yes and no in answers to negative questions:

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Don't you want to go?

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​ Yes

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No​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Note the meaning of yes and no in answers to negative questions:

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Don't you want to go?

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​Yes (= Yes, I want to go)

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No​ (=No, I don't want to go)

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Note the word order in negative questions beginning Why ... ?:

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Why don't we eat out tonight? (not Why we don't eat)

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Why wasn't Emma at work yesterday? (not Why Emma wasn't)