There are four key groups of interrogative sentences - general, special, alternative and disjunctive. According to the traditional academic system, except for special questions of the subject, all the rest are built with a rearrangement of members relative to a similar affirmative turnover. However, in real speech (both oral and written), interrogative sentences are often found that are identical to affirmative ones. How to write a question in English? There are sentences whose interrogative expression is carried out only due to intonation, without putting the predicate before the subject and using additional non-sense verbs (to be, do) and interrogative words. Some turns with a rearrangement of words will sound incorrect, ridiculous or even impolite in certain situations. Therefore, along with the classical scheme, we will also analyze in which cases it is possible to compose a question from words in English without a mandatory rearrangement.
Semantic orientation. Words that carrymain load
It is necessary to determine which word carries the fundamental "questioning" load in order to approve the scheme for building and understand how to compose a question in English. It is somewhat incorrect to classify interrogative sentences according to their relationship with the response sentence, i.e., for example, to say that the question with which we want to know something about the object that performs the action is a question to the subject. After all, we do not yet know what the answer will be, and whether it will be at all; our task is to ask, and we must base ourselves on that alone.
Members, which we express the main information need, and should serve as a signal for identification. We will call these subject questions, etc., to show you how to write questions in English. The table below reflects line by line whether questions are asked through the subject, for example - /Who did it? / Who did it? /, or through the predicate, for example - /Did he do it? / Did he do it? /, or through the secondary a member, for example, through the circumstance - /He did it in time? / Did he do it in time? / The expression of the question through a minor member is easy to confuse, to see this, compare the last example with the sentence - /Did he do it in time?/He did it on time?/. Of course, the sentence /Did he do it in time ?/ can be constructed in exactly the same way, but here a change of emphasis is required: /Did he do it in time ?/. The question, expressed through the predicate, is built with the formulation of a meaningless verb (do, to be)before the subject.
The purpose of the question. Ignorance and prejudice
How to write questions in English? The structure of the structure depends on the purpose of the question, on whether the answer is expecting completely new information, or you are clarifying what is already known. In the second case, your question contains an assumption about the answer or a manifestation of surprise, doubt about a fact or a previous remark of the interlocutor (let's call such questions prejudiced). For example, you don't know if your friend is in Chicago, and inquire about it: /Is he in Chicago?/Is he in Chicago?/; or you assume that your friend may be in Chicago, and specify this moment: /He is in Chicago?/He is in Chicago?/; or you heard that your friend came to Chicago, and are surprised by this: /He is in Chicago already? /Is he in Chicago already?/ Is he already in Chicago?/.)
There is no need to try to pass through each of these schemes absolutely all the revolutions. Some combinations, due to their specificity, may have a limited range of use.
Interrogative sentences are divided into types based on what kind of information they expect to receive in response.
General
How to write a general question in English? A questionrequires a negative or positive answer, which will be disclosed directly (yes, no) or indirectly (with the help of an explanation from which such a conclusion can be drawn). Those classical schemes that we are used to seeing in textbooks relate to expression through a predicate, when a suitable non-semantic verb or the verbal part of a compound predicate is placed before the subject. However, interrogative sentences similar to affirmatives are often found in English, so we will analyze the semantic shades that can allow this.
General through predicate
/Did you do it?/ [Of course I did.]
General through subject
/Will you do it?/ or /You will do it?/ [No, I won’t./No, I won’t.]
Common through minor members
/Did you do it quickly ?/You did it quickly?/[As quickly as possible.]
How to write a question in English if it clarifies supposed or partially known information? Prejudiced questions can be classified as general. When a question through a predicate is prejudiced, the structure of a similar affirmative sentence does not change. For example, /He took more points than anybody else. – He won?/ [He scored more points than the others. – Did he win?] (Compare with /He took part in the competition. – Did he win?/He took part in the competition. – Did he win?/)
Requesting
You can select a group of general questions that ask the interlocutor again, expressing interest. The logical place of these questions is before the answer, that is, the answer is ahead of the question, and a request is expressed, as it were, to voice it again. Such a requirement retains the schema but often omits some members of the sentence.
/I am living in Chicago too. – Are you?/I also live in Chicago. – Seriously?/ [Imagine.]
Specials
How to write a special question in English? Such a question requires an answer containing unique information. It is specified by special words /Who/Who, Whom/Whom, Whose/Whose, What/What/What, Which/Which, When/When, Where/Where, Why/Why, How/How (/How/ is often used with verbs, adjectives, etc., which complement its meaning: / How many / How many, How long / How long, How come / How did it happen, etc.), which take the first position. These questions are not prejudiced. Cases when a non-sense verbal part is needed before the subject are determined by the member through which the need for information is expressed - through the predicate, subject (or definition of the subject) or other secondary parts of the sentence. To know how to compose a question in English using the special. words, remember - if a general question is made into a special one by simple substitution, such as /Why/ or /When/, the ordering scheme, by analogy, can remain unchanged compared to a similar affirmative sentence.
Scheme canremain unchanged in statements that begin with a special word inserted in an interrogative sentence. For example, /Do you know why he is looking at it?/, where /why he is looking at it/why he is looking at it/ is a specific reason.
In cases where the interrogative pronouns Who, What, Whom, Whose, Which are subjects or are part of the subject, the construction scheme is identical to the affirmative sentence. If the interrogative pronoun plays the role of a definition with the subject, the restructuring also does not occur. In other cases, the non-sense verb comes before the subject.
For example, how to make a question in English in a situation where /Who/ acts as a nominal part of the predicate or when it is the subject? - /Who would you pretend to be in the game? /Who would you like to be in the game? ?/ [I'm the superman.].
Special through compound nominal predicate
/Who is she to you?/Who is she to you?
Special questions through the subject
/Who will join me?/Who will join me?/
Special through definition with subject
/Which bus goes to the airport?/Which bus goes to the airport?/
Special through other minor members
/Where did they meet?/Where did they meet?/
/For how longhave we been here?/How long have we been here?/
How long until it happens?
Sentences like /How long until it happens?/, /How long before it happens?/How long before it happens?/ etc. are also very common. that omit phrases like /should we wait/ or /does it need/ (/How long should we wait until it happens?/How long should we wait before this happens? or /How long does it need before something happens?/How long does it take for something to happen?/).
Alternatives
How to write an alternative question in English? Such a question proposes possible options, expressed in terms of similar terms, and asks for approval of any of them.
/Am I alright or not?/
Separation
How to write a tag question in English? Such a question is often rhetorical, that is, the answer is implied in the question itself. In the first part, a certain statement is made, and in the second, its confirmation or refutation is required. The second part is separated from the first by a comma, sometimes by a dot or ellipsis, in some cases even pronounced by another interlocutor.
/He is alright, isn't he?/
It is not the same… Is it?
Need to remember
Also, in order to know how to correctly compose a question in English, you need to remember that the verb part comes before the subjectbecomes in accordance with tense and conjugation, and then in its original form.
When a verb is used with a preposition that complements its semantic meaning, the preposition is the last one in the word order. For example, /What are you looking at?/What are you looking for?/What is going on?/Can we get out?/ If the preposition is part of an object, it is also put at the end, for example: /Are you looking at me ?/.
Special sentences used with interrogative pronouns, nouns are used without articles.
