Information
Questions
(#2):
Form
There
are six basic forms used in making information
("Wh-") questions: two if
the verb is BE, two if there
is an auxiliary
verb
and
a main
verb, and
two if there
is
only a verb (not BE and not with an auxiliary).
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Forming Information
Questions
with
BE
If the verb is BE, there are
two forms for
information
questions. If the question asks about the
subject
(or
part
of the subject), the form is
Wh + BE +
other words?
Examples:
??? is
in the kitchen.
--->
Who is in the kitchen?
The ??? man
is Bob's father. /
The man ??? is Bob's father. --->
Which man is Bob's
father?
???'s brother was with us yesterday. --->
Whose brother was
with us yesterday?
???'s books are on the coffee table.
--->
Whose books are on
the coffee
table?
??? is in the oven. --->
What is in the
oven?
??? people were at the meeting. --->
How many people were
at the meeting?
(What
kind of people were at the
meeting?)
??? sugar is in this cake. --->
How much sugar is
in this cake?
The car ??? is Bill's. ---> Which
car is Bill's?
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If the verb is BE and if the
question asks about words
that are after
the subject,
the form
is
Wh + BE +
subject + other
words?
Examples:
Bill is ??? --->
Where is Bill?
The party was ??? ---> How was the party?
(When was the party? / Where was the
party?)
The party was at ???'s house. --->
Whose
house was
the
party at? [informal] /
At whose house was
the party? [formal / careful]
This is ???'s book. --->
Whose book is this?
Nancy was upset ??? ---> Why
was Nancy upset?
(How come Nancy was upset? / What was Nancy
upset for?)
There were ??? people at the concert. --->
How many
people were there at the
concert?
Mr. Soto's office is on the
??? floor. --->
Which floor is Mr. Soto's office on?
[informal] /
On
which floor is Mr. Soto's office? [formal /
careful]
The meeting was ???. --->
How was the meeting? / Where was the meeting? /
When was the meeting?
/ What time was the meeting?
Yasuhiro was ??? angry. --->
How angry was
Yasuhiro?
The twins were ??? on their last birthday. --->
How old were
the twins on their last
birthday?
The lecture was
??? long. --->
How long was the lecture?
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Special Notes
| 1. |
|
Contractions of "Wh- words" and
is
are
very common, especially in
speaking:
Where is ---> Where's
When is --->
When's
What is ---> What's
Who is ---> Who's
Why is ---> Why's
How is ---> How's
etc.
In informal conversation,
you will also hear
contractions of "Wh-
words"
and are, but
these contractions
are not usually written:
Where are ---> (Where're)
When are --->
(When're)
What are ---> (What're)
Who are --->
(Who're)
How are ---> (How're)
etc.
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| 2. |
|
For formal (careful) writing
and
speaking,
many people believe that questions
or
statements with a preposition
at the end
are not
beautiful (not good style).
Questions
and statements ending with a preposition
are common in speaking, but for careful
writing,
combine the preposition with
the
question word:
The papers are in the
??? room. --->
Which room are the papers
in? [informal]
In which room are the papers? [formal
/ careful]
That paragraph is from the
??? page. --->
Which page is that paragraph
from? [informal]
From which page is that
paragraph?
[formal /
careful]
Their house is near ??? Street. --->
Which street is their house
near? [informal]
Near which street is their house?
[formal / careful]
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