Making Questions Lesson 2: Wh-Questions (Rules & Exercises) - English Current (2024)

TheQuick Explanation: Wh-Questions about Subjects or Objects

To understand how to make a question, we needto know if we are making a question about the subject orobject of a sentence. To explain, look at this sentence:

John likes Lisa.

(subj) + verb + (object)

Now, imagine thatsome information is missing, so we need to ask a question.

___?__ likes Lisa.

Here, the subject is missing, so we need to use a WH-question word for subjects. These words arewho and what, generally. Because we are asking about a person, we will use who.

Who likes Lisa?
(John likes Lisa.)

That's it. We're done! Making questions about subjects is easy. Now, let'simagine that the object of the sentence is missing.

John likes __?__.

Here, with the object missing, we need to do two things to make a question.

1. We have to choose the correct WH-Question word. Because we are talking about a person, we will use 'who' again (Note: You can also use 'whom' for questions about objects).
2. We need to add a helping verb to help us make a question. The sentence "John likes Lisa" doesn't have a helping verb (no modal or auxiliary verb like 'will/can/have/is'), so we will add the helping verb 'do' to make the question.

So the question becomes

Who does John like?

Let me explain again and show you the steps.

1. John likes __?__. (We need to know the object)
2. John likes who. (We add the Wh-question word 'who' because we are talking about people.)
3. WhoJohn likes. (We move the Wh-question word to the beginning of the sentence.)
4. Whodoes John like? (We add the helping verb "do" because the sentence does not have a helping verb).

Common mistake: Who doJohn like? (Incorrect)

Remember to conjugate (change) the helping verb so that it agrees with the subject. 'John' is the third person singular, so we have to add an 's' to the auxiliary verb. If you've added 's' to the helping verb 'do' (does), then you don't need to add it to the main verb.

In Detail: Wh-Questions about Subjects

Again, when you are asking a question about the subject, you just need to add the correct Wh-question word (who/what/which). Here are some examples:

__?__ can cook well.

-> We are asking about a person, so we will add who.

-> Who can cook well? Answer: Ican cook well.

__?__ is expensive.

-> We are asking about a thing here, so we will add 'what'.

-> What is expensive? Answer: The hotel is expensive.

__?__ has been ordered.

-> What has been ordered? Answer: The flowers have been ordered.

*Notice that we use 'has' and not 'have' here. When we ask a question about the subject and there is an auxiliary verb (has/do/be), always put the auxiliary verb in a singular form (= has (not have) or does (not do)).

In Detail: Questions about Objects

Structure: Wh-Question word + Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb

What do you like?

Answer: I like basketball. (basketball is the object of the verb in the sentence; we are asking about the object.)

To make a question about the object of a sentence, you need a helping verb to put after the Wh-Question word. If the sentence already has a helping verb, then you can use it to make the question. For example,

Peter is doing his homework.

-> The main verb here is 'doing', and 'is' is the helping verb. If we use the above structure (Wh-Question word + Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb), the question about the objectbecomes

What is Peter doing?

Here's another example.

We can speak Italian.

-> The main verb here is 'speak', and 'can' is the helping verb. The question about the objectbecomes

What canwespeak?

One more example.

She waswashingthe dishes.

-> The main verb here is 'washing', and 'was' is the helping verb. The question about the objectbecomes

What wasshewashing?

1. Q: ? A: He will buy wine.
2. Q: ? A: He is playing tennis.
3. Q: ? A: He teachesFrench.
4. Q: ? A: We should buy tickets.
5. Q: ? A: He has visited Italy.
6. Q: ? A: They arestudents.
7. Q: ? A: She can come tomorrow.
8. Q: ? A: I atea salad.

1. Q: ? A: Donald Trump said that.
2. Q: ? A: I study English.
3. Q: ? A: December 25th is Christmas.
4. Q: ? A: They went to a party.
5. Q: ? A: My brother is coming.
6. Q: ? A: She called her mother.

1. Q: ? A: I'm going downtown tomorrow.
2. Q: ? A: Nobody knows the answer.
3. Q: ? A: The class starts at 1 p.m.
4. Q: ? A: Huge means very big.
5. Q: ? A: She was crying because she fell down.

Remember the following:

• How is used in two ways: 1) To describe something's condition or state. How is your health? (It's good.) 2) To describe a method. How did you make the cake?
• Whose is used for possession. Whose website is this?(It's mine.)
• What kind is used to identify a type of something. What kind of movies do you like?(I like action movies.)
• How far is used to explain distance. How far is the station from here? (2 kilometres.)
• How long is used to explain length or the length of time. How long is the movie? (2 hours.)
• How much is used to identify the quantity of a non-countable noun. How much time do we have? (We have 10 minutes.)
• How many is used to identify the quantity of a countable noun. How many children are there?(There are eight children.)
• How often is used to explain frequency. How often do you brush your teeth? (Twice a day.)

1. Q: ? A: She has two cars.
2. Q: ? A: Hewas at the library for 3 hours.
3. Q: ? A: I write with my right hand.
4. Q: ? A: Six people live there.
5. Q: ? A: She called me in order to invite me.
6. Q: ? A: The trip takes one day.
7. Q: ? A: It costs three dollars.

1. Q: ? A: Their holiday was relaxing.
2. Q: ? A: She exercises twice a week.
3. Q: ? A: I like rock music.
4. Q: ? A: We can meet on Wednesday.
5. Q: ? A: I go to school by bus.
6. Q: ?A: John's bag is on the table.
7. Q: ? A: He did poorly on the test.