Question Words
Question words (who, what, where, when, why, how, which, whose) start information questions. They come before the auxiliary verb and subject.
Level A1
Questions
Summary
- Question words (who, what, where, when, why, how, which, whose) start information questions. They come before the auxiliary verb and subject.
Structure
question word + auxiliary + subject + verb
Examples
- Where do you live?
- What is your name?
- When does the film start?
- How did you get here?
Common mistakes
- • Forgetting the auxiliary, e.g. 'Where you live?' instead of 'Where do you live?'.
- • Using statement order, e.g. 'Why you are sad?' instead of 'Why are you sad?'.
More questions
Yes/No Questions
A1
Yes/no questions ask whether something is true and expect a yes or no answer. Form them by putting the auxiliary or 'be' before the subject.
Question Tags
B1
Question tags are short questions added to the end of statements to check information or invite agreement. A positive statement takes a negative tag, and a negative statement takes a positive tag.
Subject vs Object Questions
B1
When the question word is the subject (who or what does the action), no auxiliary is needed and word order stays like a statement. When it is the object, the usual question form with an auxiliary applies.