It's hard to imagine everyday life without the questions you ask people. In Russian, it is enough to simply ask a question. But how to ask questions in English? At this stage, many people who are just starting to learn a language face difficulties. The article will talk about questions in English and examples of their use. This information will help you understand the structure and subtleties of drafting such proposals.
There are several types of questions in English. Each question will be considered separately below.
General question
If you need general information, you are asking a general question. "Do you like flowers?", "Will you come tomorrow?". In other words, you don't specify the time, place, etc. The answer implies either agreement or disagreement.
Question structure
A general question in English can be built using an auxiliary verb or a helper verb. Such verbs do not have a Russian counterpart, that is, they are not translated. But they have a significant enough meaning in English. They serve as a kind of temporary indicators, helping to determine the time (present, future and past) and the number of persons (one or more).
In order to grammatically correctly ask a question in English, you need to follow a clear word order:
- Verb helper.
- The person who performs the action.
- The action itself.
How to answer the question?
The answer to the question can be a short "yes" or "no". The response schema is fairly cloned:
The answer is positive: Yes + person who performs the action + auxiliary verb.
The answer is negative (when expressing negation, the particle not is added to the helper verb): No + the person who performs the action + the helper verb + the particle not.
Examples:
1.- Do you sing songs?
- Yes, I do.
-Do you sing songs?
- Yes.
2. - Does he swim every day?
- No, he does not.
- Does he swim every day?
- No.
3. - Will Tom go to the club tomorrow?
-Yes, he will.
- Will Tom go to the club tomorrow?
- Yes.
Special issue
If you are looking for specific information, a special question is used. Where are you flying this fall? To answer such a question, you need to give the interlocutor a complete and detailed answer.
Question structure
In its structure it is similar to the structure of a general question, but at the beginning a question word is added. For example, what (what, what), when (when), where (where, where), who (who), why (why).
The structure of the question is as follows:
- Question word.
- Help Verb
- Person performing the action.
- The action itself.
But there is a slight nuance when constructing a special question: there are some indivisible structures that are put at the beginning of the question. For example, how much (how much), how old (how many years), what time (how much time).
Examples:
How often do you eat? - How often do you eat?
What color is your skirt? - What color is your skirt?
How ald are you? - How old are you?
How to answer the question?
There is no clear cliché to answer this question. You must give the person the information that the interlocutor asks for. The only thing that doesn't change in the answer is the time the question was asked.
Examples:
1. - Where can we meet?
- We can meet in the park.
- Where can we meet?
- We can meet in the park.
2. - What will you do tomorrow?
- I will read my new book.
- What will you do tomorrow?
- I will be reading my new book.
3. - Why isn't she at school?
- She is ill.
- Why isn't she at school?
- She is sick.
Alternative question
The question contains some alternative, that is, there are several options. By asking the interlocutor, you offer several options to choose from. "Does she drink tea or coffee?"
Question structure
There is a disjunctive conjunction or (or) in the structure of the question. The structure of the question is similar to the general question. Only at the end is added "or" and an alternative so that you get a choice.
Do they play football or basketball? - Do they play football or basketball?
How to answer this question?
Since the question suggests an alternative, it cannot be answered simply with "yes" or "no". The answer will be at the same time as the question.
Examples:
1. - Does she drink tea or coffee?
- She drinks tea.
- Is she drinking tea or coffee?
- She is drinking tea.
2. - Do you like pears or bananas?
- I like bananas.
- Do you like pears or bananas?
- I love bananas.
3. - Will Nancy go to the club or the theater?
- Nancy will go to the theatre.
- Will Nancy go to the club or the theatre?
- Nancy will go to the theatre.
Dividing question
The question is divided into two interdependent parts by a punctuation mark. Hence the name. You use a tag question in English to express doubt, or you want to confirm your opinion. "You're leaving tomorrow, aren't you?", "She came to see you yesterday, wasn't she?".
Question structure
The part before the comma is built like a regular positive or negative sentence. The part after the comma is structured like a short question:
- Verb-helper (the choice of the verb directly depends on the tense used).
- The character that was in the first part.
The part after the decimal point changes depending on the first part. The "tail" can be either negative or positive.
If the part before the decimal point is positive, then the second part will be negative:
First positive part + helper verb + not + person doing the action
If the part before the decimal point is negative, then the second part will be positive:
First negative part + helper verb + person doing the action
There are a few things to watch out for:
1. Even if the first part contains a specific person (her daughter, Mary, his mother, etc.), it will still be replaced by the corresponding pronoun.
Her daughter can swim, can't she? - Her daughter can swim, can't she?
2. If the subject is expressed as the words everyone (everyone), someone (someone), anyone (any), in the second part of the question they are replaced by the pronoun they.
Everyone likes ice-cream, doesn't they? - Everyone loves ice cream, right?
3. If the first affirmative part of the question contains the personal pronoun I, then the second part takes are and adds the particle not.
I am clever, aren't I? - I'm smart, aren't I?
4. There are words that carry a negative connotation. Here are some of them:
- never - never;
- nothing - nothing;
- nobody - nobody.
English does not tolerate double negatives. If the first part of the question contains words that carry a negative meaning, then the "tail" will be positive.
He never play football, does he? - He never played football, did he?
How to answer this question?
The disjunctive question requires a short answer "yes" or "no" after it, which will be built in the same way as when answering a general question.
Examples:
1. - Her mother will buy a car, won't (=will not) she?
- No, she won't.
- Her mom will be buying a car, right?
- No, it won't.
2. - Your brother does not smoke, does he?
- Yes, he does.
- Your brother doesn't smoke, does he?
- Yes.
3. - She is clever, isn't she?
- Yes, she is.
- She's smart, isn't she?
- Yes.
Question to the subject
First you need to remember what the subject is. It names who or what the sentence is talking about. Accordingly, by asking this type of question, you want to find out who is performing the action or who has some kind of attribute. "Who is handsome?", "Who plays football?".
Question structure
The peculiarity of the structure of the question is that the word order will be as in the affirmativeoffer. All you have to do is start the sentence with the question word who or what.
If you have an affirmative sentence, then the subjects just need to be replaced with a question word.
He played football - Who played football?
He played football - Who played football?
But you need to remember that the question words what and who are combined with the third person, singular. That is, you need to add the ending -s to the verb.
He plays football - Who plays football?
He plays football - Who played football?
How to answer the question?
Answer can be short or complete.
A short answer scheme would look like this:
- Character.
- Auxiliary verb.
The structure of a full answer will not be fundamentally different from the structure of the question. Instead of who, you need to put the subject and leave the direct word order.
Examples:
1. - Who sang yesterday?
- Marry did.
- Who sang yesterday?
- Mary.
2. - Who can swim?
- John can swim.
- Who can swim?
- John can swim.
