Where English Is Life
WH questions
Question words
Question words are also called wh questions because they include the letters 'W' and 'H'.
| Question words | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| who | person | Who's that? That's Nancy. |
| where | place | Where do you live? In Boston |
| why | reason | Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early |
| when | time | When do you go to work? At 7:00 |
| how | manner | How do you go? By car |
| what | object, idea or action | What do you do? I am an engineer |
| which | choice | Which one do you prefer? The red one. |
| whose | possession | Whose is this book? It's Alan's. |
| whom | object of the verb | Whom did you meet? I met the manager. |
| what kind | description | What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs |
| what time | time | What time did you come home? |
| how many | quantity (countable) | How many students are there? There are twenty. |
| how much | amount, price (uncountable) | How much time have we got? Ten minutes |
| how long | duration, length | How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks. |
| how often | frequency | How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week. |
| how far | distance | How far is your school? It's one mile far. |
| how old | age | How old are you? I'm 16. |
| how come | reason | How come I didn't see you at the party? |
Asking questions
1.If you ask about the subject of the sentence, simply add the question word at the beginning:
Example:
James writes good poems. — Who writes good poems?2.If you ask about the predicate of the sentence (the part of a sentence which contains the verb and gives information about the subject), there are three options:
- If there is a helping (auxiliary) verb that precedes the main verb ( for example: can, is, are, was, were, will, would...), add the question word and invert the subject and the helping (auxiliary) verb.
Examples:
He can speak Chinese. — What can he speak?
They are leaving tonight. — When are they leaving?- If you ask about the predicate and there is no helping (auxiliary) verb and the verb is "to be", simply add the question verb and invert the subject and the verb.
Example:
The play was interesting. — How was the play?- If there is no helping (auxiliary) verb in the the predicate and the main verb is not "to be", add the auxiliary "do" in the appropriate form.
Examples:
They go to the movies every Saturday. — Where do they go every Saturday?
He wakes up early. — When does he wake up?
They sent a letter. — What did they send?