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If an information
question is about the verb or words that
the verb, the form is
different: it uses do, does,
or did:
Wh + do
/ does / did + subject + main verb +
other
words?
Examples:
He has ???. --->
What does he have?
They ???
last night. --->
What did they do last night?
They had ???
food last night.
--->
What kind of food did they have
last night?
Bill went ???. ----->
Where did Bill go? / Why did Bill go?
The meeting begins ???
----->
When does the meeting begin? /
What
time does the meeting begin?
He saw ???
at the party.
----->
Whom did he see at the party? [formal
/ careful]
Who did he see at the party? [informal]
She likes ???
books. ----->
What kind of books does she like?/
What books
does she like?
Ya-Wen studied ???
in Taiwan. ----->
What did Ya-Wen
study in Taiwan? /
How long did Ya-Wen
study in Taiwan?
Where did Ya-Wen
study in Taiwan?
Jae-Hoon traveled to ???
countries. ----->
To how many countries did
Jae-Hoon travel? [formal / careful]
How many countries
did Jae-Hoon travel to? [informal]
They eat ??? for breakfast.
----->
What do they eat for breakfast?
Lucinda works ???.
----->
How often does Lucinda
work? /
Where does Lucinda work?/
How
much does Lucinda work?
He likes his job ??? well.
----->
How well does he like
his job?
Pablo brought ???
food to the picnic. ----->
How much food did
Pablo bring to the picnic? /
What kind of food
did Pablo bring to the picnic?
The twins celebrated their
??? birthday. ----->
Which birthday
did the twins celebrate?
She becomes upset ???.
----->
When does she become upset? /
Why
does she become upset? /
What does
she become upset for? /
How come she becomes upset?
/ *
She wrote a letter to ???.
----->
To whom did she write
a letter? [formal / careful]
Who did
she write a letter to? [informal]
Sílvia made that cake
for ???. ----->
For whom did Sílvia
make that cake? [formal / careful]
Who did
Sílvia make that cake for? [informal]
* Questions
with "How come" do not use normal word order.
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Special
Notes:
| 1. |
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Notice that do may be both a main verb
and
an auxiliary
verb:
Does Bob always do
his homework?
Bob
doesn't always do his homework.
What do
you do on weekends?
Why did you do that?
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| 2. |
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In formal, careful writing
and speaking, the
"Wh-" word who
is used to ask
about subjects.
For questions about
subjects, the "artificial"
auxiliaries
do, does,
and did not
used:
??? likes Bill. ----->
Who likes Bill?
(not *Who does like Bill?)
??? talked to Bill. ----->
Who talked
to Bill?
(not *Who did talk to Bill?)
??? married Rosanna. ----->
Who married
Rosanna?
(not *Who did marry Rosanna?)
??? has nine brothers. ----->
Who has
nine brothers?
(not *Who does have nine brothers?)
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| 3. |
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In formal,
careful writing and speaking, the
"Wh-"
word whom is used to ask about objects.
For questions about objects, the "artificial"
auxiliary do is used:
Bill likes ???. ----->
Whom does Bill like?
Bill talked to ???.
----->
Whom did Bill talk to?
Rosana married ???.
----->
Whom did Rosanna marry?
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| 4. |
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In informal, friendly speaking
(and sometimes
writing), the "Wh-" word
who is used to ask about
both
subjects and objects. It may seem strange
that
who can be used in such different ways,
but the two uses are always clear because of
differences in grammar.
Who lives with
Bill? (subject)
Who does Bill live
with? (object)
Who loves Junichi?
(subject)
Who(m) does Junichi
love? (object)
Who did a favor
for Ahmed? (subject)
Who(m) did Ahmed do
a favor for? (object)
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| 5. |
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In formal, careful writing,
ending a question (or
a statement) with a preposition
is considered
awkward (though ending with a preposition
is,
in fact, very common in speaking. In careful
written work, ending with a preposition should,
therefore, be avoided.
Examples:
better in writing:
To
whom were you speaking?
common in speaking:
Who(m)
were you speaking to?
better in writing:
To which page were you referring?
common in speaking:
Which
page were you referring to?
better in writing:
In whose class are you studying?
common in speaking:
Whose
class are you studying in?
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| 6. |
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When prepositions are combined with "Wh-"
words, whom must be used:
not this:
*To who did Mariam write a letter?
but this:
To whom
did Mariam write a letter?
not this:
*Beside who does Hyun-sook sit?
but this:
Beside whom
does Hyun-sook sit?
not this:
*With who does Shu-Wen study?
but this:
With whom
does Shu-Wen study?
not this:
*For who did the injured man ask?
but this:
For whom
did the injured man ask?
not this:
*From who do they take piano lessons?
but this:
From whom
do they take piano lessons?
Note: Questions such as these are very formal
and careful.
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