Question Formation in English

Subject and Object Questions

There are two basic types of questions in English.
Most questions ask for the object of a sentence.
1. 'Wh' questions ask for specific information and start with a WH- word.
SUBJECT - VERB - OBJECT: Lee Oswald (S) shot (V) President Kennedy (O)
What / Which / When / Where / Whereabouts / Why / Whose / How
The most common question structure is: Question word + Auxiliary Verb + Object or Main Verb. When we ask about the OBJECT, we have to use the auxiliary “DO”
Who did Lee Oswald shoot? (We are asking about the object, President Kennedy).
'Wh' questions usually have a FALLING INTONATION.
With the question words WHO, WHAT & WHICH, if the answer is the SUBJECT, there is NO
AUXILIARY 'DO, DOES, DID and the word order is the same as a statement.
Tense Examples
Who (S) shot (V) President Kennedy (O)?
Present simple Whose is this? / What do you do? ANSWER = SUBJECT (Lee Oswald). No auxiliary “DO”

Present continuous Where are you going? Here are some more examples of subject questions:
Past simple When were you there? / When did she do that? SUBJECT (+ VERB + OBJECT)
Past continuous Who were playing? Who broke the window? Peter (broke the window)
Pres. perf. simple Why haven't you done your homework? Who discovered America? Columbus (discovered America)
Pres. perf. continuous Which report have you been working on? OBJECT QUESTIONS (Auxiliary “DO” needed)

Passive Whereabouts were they found? What did Peter break? (“Peter” is the subject)
will / would Who will be there? / How will they get here? Which continent did Columbus discover? (“Columbus” is the subject)
Can / could How could you? / What could it be?
'Like' used in questions

 'What' can be followed by a noun, and is normally used when there is an unlimited number of 'LIKE' can be used as a VERB for preference and as a PREPOSITION for description.
possibilities. 'Which' is normally used with a limited number of choices. Examples:
Eg. What type of films do you like? / Which of these 3 films did you like the most?
What does she like doing at the weekend? (VERB) = What does she enjoy doing?
When asking about people it’s better to use which: Which astronauts have landed on the moon?
What would you like to do next weekend? (VERB) = What do you want to do?
 'How' can combine with adjectives and adverbs. What is London like? (PREPOSITION) = Give me your general impressions of London.
How many (countables), How much (uncountables), How tall (height), How old (age), How big
Please note:
(size), How fast (speed), How often (frequency), How many times (number), How long (duration),
How far (distance)  What is she like? (PREPOSITION) = Describe her character (and maybe her appearance).
 What does she look like? (PREPOSITION) = Describe her appearance ONLY.
 'How is she?' REFERS ONLY TO HEALTH & WELL-BEING.
Prepositions often come at the end of a question, and they are stressed when we talk.
Eg. How is your mother? = “Is your mother in good health?”
Eg. What are you looking at? Which channel is the film on?
 2. 'Yes/No' questions ask for a positive or negative answer. There are TWO TYPES of question tag.

They normally start with an AUXILIARY or MODAL verb and are followed by 1. This tag has a falling intonation and means "I'm sure I'm right, confirm it for me".
SUBJECT + (VERB) + OBJECT

'Yes/no' questions normally have a RISING INTONATION.

Tense Examples 2. A question tag with a rising intonation means "I'm not sure, can you tell me if I'm right?"
Present simple Am I right? / Do I do it like this?

Present continuous Is it working?

Past simple Was she the manager? / Did you enjoy it?
PLEASE NOTE!
Past continuous Were they fighting?
After 'Let's....' the question tag is 'Shall we?' Eg. Let's go out for a meal, shall we?
Pres. perf. simple Have they had dinner yet?
After the imperative the question tag is 'Will you?' Eg. Open the door for me, will you?
Pres. perf. continuous Has she been working all day?
A positive question tag can follow a positive statement when expressing interest or surprise.
Passive Was it finished on time?
Eg. Oh, You think he'll win, do you?
will / would Will she be happy in her new job? / Will you finish by 5.30?

Can / could Could he be right? / Can you pass me the salt, please?

Negative 'Yes/No' questions are used:

 To show surprise: Didn't you hear the bell? I rang it four times!
 In exclamations: Doesn't that dress look nice! (= That dress looks very nice)
 When we expect the listener to agree with us: Haven't we met somewhere before? (= I think we have)

Be careful with the answers to negative questions:

Didn't Dave go to Canada? Yes. (He went there.) / No. (He didn't go there.)

Reply questions

Reply questions are formed of Auxiliary/modal verb + Subject , and are used to show interest or
surprise. They always have a strong RISING INTONATION.

Eg. A: He has a problem B: Does he?.

A: I've finished! B: Have you?
A: I can't do this. B: Can't you?

Question tags

Question tags have the same form as reply questions but are used either to ask for confirmation or a
response.

If a positive statement is made, the question tag is negative. Eg. You're Brazilian, aren't you?

If a negative statement is made, the question tag is positive. Eg. You haven't finished yet, have you?