Direct Questions – informal/less polite/casual

Structure: (Question word) + auxiliary verb + subject +

main verb (root/Grundform)? (All verbs except “to be”)
Examples:
Where does she work?
What did you do on your holiday?
Did she get marry?

Questions with “be”

(Question word) + be (am/is/are) + S +
adjective/noun/preposition/verb-ing?
Examples:
Are you happy?
Where are you from?
Where is he going?

*Positive sentences in English are: Subject + Verb.

Direct questions in English: Verb + Subject.
Indirect Questions – formal/polite/longer/consist of an
introductory phrase and a question.
Introductory phrase:
 Could you tell me…
 Do you know…
 I was wondering…
 Would it be possible…
 Do you have any idea…

*Indirect questions are: Subject + Verb. (no inversion)

Examples:
DQ: Where is the post office?
IQ: Could you tell me where the post office is?

DQ: When does the next train arrive?

IQ: Do you know when the next train arrives?

DQ: When did the cinema close down? – Simple Past

IQ: I was wondering when the cinema closed down? –
Simple Past
*Indirect questions never take do, does, did.

*If the direct question is a yes/no question (do not

have question words), then the Indirect Question will
have an “if”
DQ: Does Gabrielle live in London? b/c you can never have do/does/did
in an indirect question, must be removed.

IQ: Do you know if Gabrielle lives in London?

DQ: Is the restaurant closing now? – keep every word, no word is
removed like above. Above the “does” is removed but here all words are kept.

IQ: Excuse me, could you tell if the restaurant is closing

now?
_____________________________________________
Subject questions vs Object questions.
Object questions:
Structure: (Question word) + auxiliary verb + subject +
main verb (root/Grundform)? (All verbs except “to be”)
*must have an auxiliary verb do/does/did
Examples:
What do you want to drink? We want some orange
juice.
What did Sarah make? Sarah made a sandwich.
Subject questions:
(Question word) + Verb in the simple present/simple
past + object?
*Subject questions never use do/does/did
Examples:
Who wants some orange juice? Sarah and Michael do!
Who made the sandwich? Sarah made it!