TEACHER JOSE LUIS TELLO

DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUESTIONS

I. DIRECT QUESTIONS
1. WH-QUESTIONS
Son aquellas preguntas que empiezan con una “palabra WH”: what, where, when, etc. y para ello se require de
respuestas completes (subject + verb + complement). Es muy importante observar con mucho cuidado el sujeto en
la pregunta y el tiempo grammatical, ya que de ello depende la respuesta correcta. Observemos la siguiente
fórmula.
Examples:

Fórmula para hacer pregunta: Wh -question + Auxiliary + Subject + Verb + Complement

PRESENT SIMPLE: Where do you go on weekends?
PRESENT CONTINUOUS: What is your sister doing now?
PAST SIMPLE: Where did you go yesterday?
PAST CONTINUOUS: What was Ivan doing at 7am yesterday morning?
PRESENT PERFECT: Where have you gone recently?
GOING TO: Where is Mary (going to)go tonight?
WILL: What will you do tomorrow morning?

Fórmula para responder : Subject + Verb + Complement

PRESENT SIMPLE: I go to the park on weekends
PRESENT CONTINUOUS: She is watching TV
PAST SIMPLE: I went to the library yesterday
PAST CONTINUOUS: Ivan was reading a book at 7am yesterday morning
PRESENT PERFECT: I have gone to the supermarket recently
GOING TO: Mary is going to go to a rock concert tonight
WILL: I will study tomorrow morning

Importante: Considerar el uso de un auxiliar + verbo con present continuous, past continuous, present perfect, going to, will.

2. QUESTIONS WITHOUT AUXILIARIES

Son preguntas por el cual no se observan ningún auxiliar. Estas clases de preguntas también son llamadas “subject
questions”.
SUBJECT QUESTIONS
Example: Who called me this morning?
La formula para ello es: WH QUESTION + VERB + COMPLEMENT
Los subject questions mayormente empiezan con las palabras: who, what, which, how many, etc.
Sentences
VERB BE: Who is in the yard?, Who is your sister?
PRESENT SIMPLE: Who lives here?, who works in that company?, who wants to come to the movies?
PRESENT CONTINUOUS: Who is singing in the kitchen?
PAST SIMPLE: Who called me this morning?, who arrived late yesterday.
PRESENT PERFECT: Who has broken the window, who is playing in the yard?
GOING TO: Who is going to go to the park with me?
WIIL: Who will help you?
CAN: Who can clean this room?

• También podemos utilizar “wich”, pero no con personas: Which companies were in the motorshow yesterday.
• Podemos utilizar “how many” para preguntar por cantidades: How many teams won the league in the last
decade?
3. QUESTIONS ENDING IN PREPOSITIONS
Son aquellas preguntas que llevan una preposición al final de oración interrogativa.
Example: Who did you play tennis with?
FOR
What are you looking for?
Who are you waiting for?
Who is this present for?
What is this for?
What are you learning Japanese for?
WITH
Who are they with?
Who did you sit with at the meeting?
Who are you in love with?
Who do you usually go on vacation with?
Who does your brother usually have breakfast with?
AT
What are you looking at?
What are you laughing at?
What kind of sports are you good at?
ABOUT
What was the meeting about?
Which picture are you talking about?
What is the film about?
Who is your brother talking about?

FROM
Where are you from?
Where do you come from?
Where did you buy it from?

TO
Which school did you go to?
Who were you speaking to?
Who did you give your number to?

ON / OFF
Who turned the lights off?
What does your sister spend the most money on?
IN
What kind of hobbies are you interested in?
Who do you confide in?

4. SHORT QUESTIONS
We can use short questions to make very short questions.

A: I am going to the park next weekend

B: where to?
A: I hate spicy food
B: such as?
II. INDIRECT QUESTIONS
I. WH QUESTIONS WITH THE VERB BE

II. WH QUESTIONS WITH PRESENT SIMPLE, PAST SIMPLE, PRESENT PERFECT, WILL, ETC

III. YES / NO QUESTIONS

PRACTICE
I. LOOK AT THE ANSWERS AND WRITE THE WH QUESTIONS
a. ____________________________________ : I am in my room
b. ____________________________________: I am 22 years old
c. ____________________________________ : She is in the kitchen
d. ____________________________________: She is cooking in the kitchen
e. ____________________________________: He is working in “Hiraoka”
f. ____________________________________ : I live in San Luis
g. ____________________________________: I eat pizza on weekends
h. ____________________________________ : My father is going to the drugstore
i. ____________________________________ : I have two brothers
j. ____________________________________ : I watched TV last night
k. ____________________________________ : My mother cooked spaghetti yesterday
l. ____________________________________ : I live in San Luis all my life
m. ____________________________________ : I have done my homework in the library
n. ____________________________________: I am going to eat in a restaurant tomorrow afternoon
o. ____________________________________: My mother is going to cook spaghetti tomorrow
p. ____________________________________: I will get up at 7am tomorrow morning
q. ____________________________________ : My father will eat in a restaurant tomorrow
II. SUBJECT QUESTIONS

A. CIRCLE THE CORRECT ANSWER.

1. Who ( want / wants ) the last chocolate?
2. ( Who / What ) will give you $100 dollars?
3. ( What / Who ) language sounds most beautiful?
4. ( Who / Which ) language do you prefer?
5. ( Who’s / Who ) coming tomorrow?
6. ( How much / How many ) people speak English?
7. How many ( languages / language ) do you speak?

B. ORDER THE SENTENCES

1. ______________________________________
Monalisa / who / the / painted?
2. ______________________________________
of / what / the / at / film / the / happens?
3. _______________________________________
computer / better / works / wich
4. _______________________________________
of / girls / this / cake / made / the / which
5. ________________________________________
1558 / in / England / of / Who / became / Queen

III. QUESTIONS ENDING IN PREPOSITIONS

A. WRITE THE QUESTION WITH PREPOSITION

1. I’m talking to David. :_________________________________
2. I came from France. :_________________________________
3. I am speaking with Mike. :_________________________________
4. she is talking about her marriage. :_________________________________
5. Helen is looking at her dog :_________________________________
6. They are good at mathematics :_________________________________
7. I came back home with some friends :_________________________________

B. WRITE THE CORRECT PREPOSITION

1. Why are you crying _______?
2. Who shall I give this _______?
3. What are you waiting _______?
4. Which writer were you talking _______?
5. Which candidate have you voted _______?
6. who is the cake ______?
7. what did Kevin talk ______?
8. Where is she ______?
IV. INDIRECT QUESTIONS

1. What time is the train? Can you tell me what time __________________?
2. What time does the movie start? Can you tell me ___________________________?
3. What am I going to do tonight? Can you tell me ___________________________?
4. Is your brother at the park? Can you tell ______________________________?
5. Where does she play tennis? Can you tell ______________________________?
6. Does he live in Paris? Can you tell me ___________________________?
7. What is this? Can you tell me ___________________________?
8. Is he a lawyer? Can you tell me ___________________________?
9. Why do you like travelling so much? Can you tell me ___________________________?
10. Did she go out last night? Can you tell me ___________________________?
11. How was the film? Can you tell me ___________________________?
12. Can she swim? Can you tell me ___________________________?
13. How old is Andrea? Can you tell me ___________________________?
14. Does your mother cook well? Can you tell me ___________________________?
15. Did your sister drink soda? Can you tell me ___________________________?