ELC 121: INTEGRATED

LANGUAGE SKILLS I

WH-QUESTIONS & QUESTION TAGS

TYPES OF QUESTIONS
YES/NO QUESTION
A question that may be answered by yes or no
Yes / no questions can be formed using the words is / are or do / does.
Q: Does he live in Chicago
A: Yes, he does or No, he doesn’t
Q: Is Elliot reading a book?
A: Yes, he is reading a book.

INFORMATION QUESTION
A question that asks for information by using a question word
Q: Where does he live?
A: Chicago
QUESTION WORD ORDER
The rest of
Question Helping
Subject Main verb the
word verb
sentence

Where do you live?

Why can’t he go to school?
When will she come to the party?
How are you doing?
What were they talking about?
YES/NO QUESTIONS

The rest of
Helping
Subject Main verb the
verb
sentence

Do you like football?

Does he work on the computer?
Did they go to the cinema?
Can you help me now?
Will she cook dinner for us?
Is it cheap?
Is the toy broken?
Are peanuts good for health?
 INFORMATION QUESTIONS
QUESTION ANSWER
WHEN When did they arrive? Yesterday When is used to ask
questions about time
When will you visit mom? Next week
WHERE Where is she? At home Where is used to ask
questions about place
Where can I find a pen? In that drawer

WHY Why did he leave early? He’s ill Why is used to ask questions
about reason
Why aren’t you coming with us? I’m tired
 QUESTION ANSWER

HOW How did you come to school? By bus How generally asks about
manner
How does she drive? Carefully
How much money does it cost? Ten dollars How is used with much and
many
How many people came? Fifteen

How fast were you driving? 50 miles an How is also used with
hour adjectives and adverbs
How often do you go shopping? Every week
 QUESTION ANSWER

WHO Who can answer that question? I can Who is used as the subject of
a question. It refers to people
Who came to visit you? Jane and Eli
Who is coming to dinner tonight? Ann, Bob and Who is usually followed by a
Tim singular verb even if the
Who wants to come with me? We do speaker is asking more than
one person

WHOM Whom did you see? I saw George Whom should be used to refer
to the object of a verb or
To whom should I talk? The secretary
preposition
WHOSE Whose book did you borrow? David’s Whose asks questions about
possession
Whose key is this? It’s mine
 QUESTION ANSWER

WHAT What made you angry? His rudeness What is used to ask questions
about things
What did you buy? A book
What kind of soup is that? It’s a bean soup
What did you do last night? I studied
What countries did you visit? Italy and Spain What may be accompanied
with a noun
What time did she come? Seven o’clock
What color do you like? I like red
 QUESTION
WHICH I have two pens
Which pen do you want?
Which do you want?
Which book should I buy?
What countries did he visit?
Which countries did he visit
ANSWER
What is used instead of what
when a question concerns
The blue one
choosing from a definite,
known quantity or group
That one
Peru and Chile In some cases, there is little
difference in meaning between
which and what when they
accompany a noun.
QUESTION TAGS
•Tag questions (or question tags) turn a statement into a
question.

•They are often used for checking information that we think

we know is true.

•Tag questions are made using an auxiliary verb (for

example: be or have) and a subject pronoun (for
example: I, you, she).

EXAMPLES:
You haven't seen this film, have you?
Your sister lives in Spain, doesn't she?
He can't drive, can he?
It isn’t cold. Is it?
•Normally we use a negative question tag after a positive
sentence:

Positive sentence Negative tag

Kate will be here soon, won’t she?
There was a lot of traffic, wasn’t there?
Michael should pass the exam, shouldn’t he?

•…and a positive question tag after a negative sentence:

Negative sentence Positive tag
Kate won’t be late, will she?
They don’t like us, do they?
You haven’t got a car, have you?
• After LET’S … the question tag is shall we
Let’s go for a walk, shall we?

• After DON’T … the question tag is will you

Don’t be late, will you?

• After I’M … the negative question tag is aren’t I

I’m right, aren’t I?