Forming Questions Yes/ No

Questions WH

Questions

YES/ NO QUESTIONS Inverting the subject and the

verb

Adding helping verb before the subject

Inverting The SubjectAnd The Verb

When there is:

•A helping verbA modal•To be

As the main verb-these are placed

before the subject. (the subject and the

verb are inverted).

The main verb doesn’t change its form

Examples

• It is raining

•He has gone out

• Is it raining?

•Has he gone out?

She doesn’t come here often.

He hasn’t phoned us.

Doesn’t she come here often?

Hasn’t he phoned us?

She can play the piano

Can she play the piano?

Adding Helping VerbBefore the Subject

When there is no helping verb

(as in the Present Simple and the Past Simple) a helping verb is supplied.

Do/Does (Present Simple) Did (Past Simple)

To form questions this helping verb is placed before the subject.

The main verb is always in its base form

Examples

Eli jogs every night.

Does Eli jog every night?

They play tennis twice a week.

They started work very early.

Do they play tennis twice a week?

Did they start work very early?

WH Questions

WH questions about the subject

All other WH- questions

WH Questions About The Subject

When the questions is about the subject, the WH- word (who, what, which) replaces the subject and the verb is always in the singular. Nothing else changes in the sentence. (there is no inversion of subject and the verb and nothing is placed before the WH- word).

Examples

Vera has lost her watch.

They are learning French.

Who has lost her watch?

Who is learning French?

All Other WH- Questions

When the question is about the object of the verb or object of a preposition…

(1) The WH-word (who, whom, what, which) that replaces the object is the first word of the question, and (2) the rest of the questions is exactly like a yes/no question.

Examples

Jack plays tennis.

Rita is phoning a friend.Who is phoning a friend?

What does Jack play?

The plane arrived late because of the weather.

Why did the plane arrive late?

An On – Line Practice

Open the following URL, in order to practice forming Questions in English.

http://www.quia.com/cm/14105.html

http://grammar.englishclub.com/q_questions.htm

http://a4esl.org/q/j/ko/mc-eiken5.html

http://a4esl.org/q/h/9704/dg-wh.html

http://www.quia.com/rr/9433.html

http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/online/MultipleChoice/whquestion.html

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/blgrquiz_questionforms.htm

The end I hope you Enjoyed your work,

Michal Mayost