Asking Questions (Part 1)

 

ASKING QUESTIONS– HOW DO WE FORM THEM AND WHAT IS THE CORRECT WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH?

(PART 1)

Asking questions correctly can sometimes be confusing in English. You may wonder if you are putting the words in the correct order. There two types of questions, yes/no and wh. This blog explains of these types of questions with the verb “to be” and with all other verbs and discusses asking questions in the simple present, present progressive, simple past, and future tenses.

Questions with the verb “to be.”

When asking questions, the be verb works a little bit differently than all other verbs in English. It is possibly the most important verb in English.

Yes/no questions with be verb.

1. To form a question, you first need to know how to form a statement. Word order for statements using be is generally subject + verb

I am a student.

He is a student.

They are students.

Word order for asking yes/no questions is simply a reversal of a statement, verb + subject. This works for either simple present or simple past.

Are you a student? Yes, I am. No, I’m not.

Is he a student? Yes, he is. No he’s not.

Were they students? Yes, they were. No, they weren’t.

2. In the present progressive, you also need to know how to make a statement. The word order is a statement is subject + am/are/is + ing form of the verb.

He is cooking dinner right now.

The word order for asking questions in the present progressive is also the reverse of a statement:  am/are/is + subject + ing form of the verb.

Is he cooking dinner right now? Yes, he is. No, he isn’t.

3. In the future tense we can make statements and ask questions with the word “will.” For a statement, the correct word order is subject + will + base form of the verb (be).

She will be in Mexico tomorrow.

For questions, the word order is the reverse of a statement, will + subject + base form of the verb (be).

Will she be in Mexico tomorrow? Yes, she will. No, she won’t.

 

 

AUTHOR

Dr L Suresh

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore - 641020

Contact: 9944138137

e-mail ID: sureshenglit@rmv.ac.in