Questions

A statement is a sentence that tells you something. A question is a sentence that asks you something. A statement does not require an answer. A question requires an answer.

statement:	I like EnglishClub.
question:	Do you like EnglishClub?	Yes
question:	Why do you like EnglishClub?	Because...

A written question in English always ends with a question mark: ?

Question Structure

The basic structure of a question is:

auxiliary verb

subject

main verb

Look at these example sentences. They all have the auxiliary verb before the subject:

	auxiliary verb	subject	main verb
	Do	you	like	Mary?
	Are	they	playing	football?
	Will	Anthony	go	to Tokyo?
	Did	he	leave	early?
Why	did	he	leave	early?
When	will	he	return?

Exception! For the main verb be in Present Simple and Past Simple, there is no auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences. They all have the main verb before the subject:

	main verb be	subject
	Am	I	wrong?
	Are	they	Thai?
	Was	it	hot outside?
Why	were	you	late?

Questions are also known as "interrogatives".

Question Types

There are three basic question types:

Yes/No: the answer is "yes or no"
Question-word: the answer is "information"
Choice: the answer is "in the question"

We look at these in more detail below.

Yes/No questions

Sometimes the only answer that we need is yes or no. Look at these examples:

auxiliary verb	subject	not	main verb		answer: yes or no
Do	you		want	dinner?	Yes, I do.
Can	you		drive?		No, I can't.
Has	she	not	finished	her work?	Yes, she has.
Did	they		go	home?	No, they didn't.

Exception! Main verb be in Present Simple and Past Simple:

main verb be	subject
Is	Anne	French?
Was	Ram	at home?

Question-word questions

Sometimes we want more than yes or no for an answer. When asking for information, we usually place a question-word at the beginning of the sentence. The question-word indicates the information that we want, for example: where (place), when (time), why (reason), who (person). Look at these examples:

question word	auxiliary verb	not	subject	main verb		answer: information
Where	do		you	live?		In Paris.
When	will		we	have	lunch?	At 1pm.
Why	has	n't	Tara	done	it?	Because she can't.
Who(m)	did		she	meet?		She met Ram.
Who*	has			run	out?	Ati has run out.
Who**				ran	out?	Ati ran out.

*When the question-word is who, it acts as the subject.
**In Present Simple and Past Simple tenses, there is no auxiliary verb with who.

Exception. Main verb be in Present Simple and Past Simple:

question word	main verb be	subject
Where	is	Bombay?
How	was	she?

Choice questions

Sometimes we give our listener a choice. We ask them to choose between two possible answers. So their answer is (usually) already in the question. Look at these examples:

auxiliary verb	subject	main verb		or		answer: in question
Do	you	want	tea	or	coffee?	Coffee, please.
Will	we	meet	John	or	James?	John.

Exception. Main verb be in Present Simple and Past Simple:

main verb be	subject		OR
Is	your car	white	or	black?
Were	they	$15	or	$50?

These pages show the three basic types of question. There are other types of question, for example tag questions.