Learning how to ask questions in English is confusing. Sometimes you change the word order of subject and verb:
Bob is tall. (statement word order is subject + verb)
Is Bob tall? (question word order is verb + subject).
When the verb is a form of "to be" in simple present tense (am, is, are) or simple past tense (was, were), subject and verb change places to make a question.
In other types of questions, you leave the word order the same and put a question word such as where or why, plus a helping verb such as do, does (present tense) or did (past tense) at the beginning:
Bob walked to work yesterday. Why did Bob walk to work yesterday? Where did Bob walk today?
For questions in the simple past tense, the main verb changes from past tense (walked) to the base form (walk), and the helping verb did takes on the job of showing past tense.
However, if the subject of the sentence is the same as the answer to the question, you don't need a helping verb and the main verb stays in the past tense:
Who walked to work yesterday? Bob. Bob walked to work yesterday.
What made that squeaking noise? A mouse. A mouse made that squeaking noise.
A different person's way of explaining how to ask questions might make more sense to you. Try reading several explanations of how to form questions in English.
My suggestion: Click on the three links below to read different explanations of how to ask questions. (these lessons may include types of questions we have not studied yet in class). Each link has exercises you can try after you read the lesson.
WH Questions Asking Questions An Easy Way to Form Questions
Bob is tall. (statement word order is subject + verb)
Is Bob tall? (question word order is verb + subject).
When the verb is a form of "to be" in simple present tense (am, is, are) or simple past tense (was, were), subject and verb change places to make a question.
In other types of questions, you leave the word order the same and put a question word such as where or why, plus a helping verb such as do, does (present tense) or did (past tense) at the beginning:
Bob walked to work yesterday. Why did Bob walk to work yesterday? Where did Bob walk today?
For questions in the simple past tense, the main verb changes from past tense (walked) to the base form (walk), and the helping verb did takes on the job of showing past tense.
However, if the subject of the sentence is the same as the answer to the question, you don't need a helping verb and the main verb stays in the past tense:
Who walked to work yesterday? Bob. Bob walked to work yesterday.
What made that squeaking noise? A mouse. A mouse made that squeaking noise.
A different person's way of explaining how to ask questions might make more sense to you. Try reading several explanations of how to form questions in English.
My suggestion: Click on the three links below to read different explanations of how to ask questions. (these lessons may include types of questions we have not studied yet in class). Each link has exercises you can try after you read the lesson.
WH Questions Asking Questions An Easy Way to Form Questions
No comments:
Post a Comment