Asking questions in English – Question forms

Asking questions in English – Question forms

Exercise 1

Choose the correct forms to complete the questions below.

1How often you do goyou godo you go to the dentist?

2How many brothers and sisters you havehave you gothave you?

3What time you cando you cancan you pick me up?

4Where did Tim bewas TimTim was last night?

5You did seeDid you seeYou saw John this morning?

6Why you did putdid you putput you that box there?

7What do you are doingare you doingyou are doing with the scissors?

8When make sheshe will makewill she make a decision?

9What time do I should callI should callshould I call you tomorrow?

10Who Sandra did inviteSandra inviteddid Sandra invite to the party?

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Word order in questions – Grammar chart

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Questions in general

If we want to ask a question in English, the order is QWASM: Question word, Auxiliary verb, Subject, Main verb. In Yes-No questions (questions where the answer is yes or no), there is no Question Word.

Questions with be as the main verb

When be is the main verb, it is used as the Auxiliary in the question, and then we don’t have a Main verb after the Subject.

Auxiliary verbs

In the position of Auxiliary, we can use be, do, have or any modal verb: can, could, will, would, should, etc.

Have is only an auxiliary verb in the form have got and in the present perfect.

• Have you got any brothers or sisters?
• What have you cooked for lunch?

For other uses of have, we need an auxiliary verb (do, did) for questions.

• What time did you have dinner yesterday? (NOT had you dinner)
• Do you have to do it now? (NOT Have you to do it)

Have got only has a present form. It does not have a past form.

• Did you have many toys when you were a child? (NOT Had you got many toys when you were a child?)

Question words

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how much

We can use how much to ask about the price of something.

• How much is the jacket?

how + adjective

We can use how + adjective (any adjective) as a question word.

• How tall are you?
• How fast is your car?

which vs what

We can use which + noun, and we can also use what + noun. We use which when there are a small number of possible answers. Look at the difference:

• Which car do you like, the red or the blue? (there is a small number of possible answers)
• ‘What car have you got?’ ‘A Mercedes.’ (many possible answers)

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