Questions and Answers

Yes / No questions ==> auxiliary verb / modal verb

Subject and verb change their position in statement and question.

• Sentence: You are from Germany.
• Question: Are you from Germany?

We always use the short answer, not only Yes or No.

NOTE:
If the answer is Yes, we always use the long form. → Example: Yes, I am.
If the answer is No, we either use the long or the contracted form (short form). → Example: No, I am not → No, I'm not.

Verb	Subject	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Verb
Are	you	from Germany?	Yes,	I	am.
Are	you	from Germany?	No,	I	am not 'm not.
Is	he	your friend?	Yes,	he	is.
Are	Peter and John	from England?	Yes,	they	are.

 

 

Subject and Object Question

 

Sometimes we ask a question to know about the object of the answer:

 

-What did you lose?

- I lost my purse.

 

'My purse' is the object of the answer and 'what' is the object of the question. (The subject of the question is 'you'.)

Here's another example:

• Who did John meet?
• John met Lucy.

'Lucy' is the object of the answer and 'who' is the object of the question.

The normal rules that we learn about making questions, such as inverting the question word and the auxiliary verb, or adding 'do', 'does' or 'did', are all used in object questions.

However, sometimes we want to ask a question where the thing we want to know is actually the subject of the answer.

Here's an answer:

• Lucy kissed John.

We can ask about John, in a normal object question:

• Who did Lucy kiss?

But we can also ask about Lucy:

• Who kissed John?

'Who kissed John?' is a subject question. We don't need to use inversion, or add 'did'. Instead, we just take out 'Lucy' from the answer (which is a normal sentence) and add 'who'. We generally make subject questions using 'who' or 'what'.

Let's have a look at some more examples:

• James dropped the glass.
• Object question: What did James drop?
• Subject question: Who dropped the glass?

• We will read the book.
• Object question: What will you read?
• Subject question: Who will read the book?

• Amanda washed the car.
• Object question: What did Amanda wash?
• Subject question: Who washed the car?

• The students like their new professor.
• Object question: Who do the students like?
• Subject question: Who likes the new professor?

• I'm buying some bread.
• Object question: What are you buying?
• Subject question: Who is buying some bread?

 

And more....

In the simple present and simple past tense, we make questions and negatives with do, does and did. But there are some exceptions to this rule.
In subject questions where we want to find information about the subject, we do not use the auxiliary verb do/does/did.
In object questions where we want to find information about the object, we use the auxiliary verb do/does/did.
Study the sentence given below.

• John broke a window.

This sentence has a subject (John), a verb (broke) and an object (window).
Now when we make questions to find this information, there are two possibilities.
If we want to make a question where the answer is ‘window’, the question would be: What did John break? John broke a window.
Now if we want to make a question where the answer is ‘John’, the question would be ‘Who broke the window?’ ‘John broke the window.’
When we make a question where the answer is the object, we use the auxiliary do/did. In subject questions, the auxiliary do is not used.
More examples are given below.

Jack likes ice-cream. (Subject – Jack, verb – likes, object – ice-cream)

Subject question

Who likes ice-cream? Jack likes ice-cream. (NOT Who does like ice-cream?)

Object question

What does Jack like? Jack likes ice-cream. (NOT What Jack likes?)

My sister writes short stories.

Subject question

Who writes short stories? My sister writes short stories.

Object question

What does my sister write? My sister writes short stories.

Mary keeps a pig in the yard.

Subject question

Who keeps a pig in the yard? Mary

Object question

What does Mary keep in the yard? A pig

 

 

 

 WRITING QUESTIONS - Subject vs. Object Questions

Study these sample questions: SUBJECT QUESTION: A subject question asks about the subject of the sentence. Do NOT change the word order of the question. ANSWER QUESTION Gina is fixing the computer.    Who is fixing the computer? An accident happened last week.    What happened last week? OBJECT QUESTION: An object question asks about the object of the sentence. You MUST change the word order of the question. ANSWER QUESTION Gina met Mary.    Whom did Gina meet? <--formal Gina met Mary.    Who did Gina meet? <--informal Frank saw an accident.    What did Frank see?

 

 

 

Negative questions

 

Contracted and uncontracted negative questions have different word order. Uncontracted negative questions are usually used in a formal style.

• Aren’t you coming? (Contracted – auxiliary verb + n’t + subject)
• Doesn’t he understand? (Auxiliary verb + n’t + subject)
• Are you not coming? (Uncontracted – auxiliary verb + subject + not)
• Does he not understand? (Auxiliary verb + subject + not)

Two meanings
A negative question can have two different kinds of meanings. It can, for example, be used to ask for confirmation of something you believe to be true.

• Didn’t you see Ann yesterday? How is she doing? (= I believe that you saw Ann yesterday.)

You may also express your opinions in a more polite way by changing them into negative questions.

• Wouldn’t it be nice to paint that wall green? (More polite than ‘It would be nice to paint that wall green.’)

A negative question can also be used to ask for confirmation of a negative belief. In this case the speaker is surprised that something has not happened or is not happening.

• Hasn’t the postman come yet?

Polite requests, offers, complaints etc
Pressing offers and invitations often assume the form of negative questions. They usually begin Won’t you…? Wouldn’t you…? or Why don’t you…?

• Wouldn’t you like something to drink?
• Why don’t you come and spend the evening with us?

In other cases we do not normally use a negative question to ask people to do things.

• Can you help me with my homework? (Ordinary question used as a request.)

 

Surprise: Don't you know who she is?
Admiration: Isn't she a great hostess?
Annoying: Can't you be on time just for once? / Won't you be quiet just for a change?