5 types of questions in English. For the correct construction of an interrogative sentence in English, it is always very important to remember the word order in such a sentence.

There are 5 types of questions in English.

From the article you will learn:

Question classification

The following five types can be distinguished:

• Wh- questions or Special questions - questions to the subject;
• General questions - general questions;
• Disjunctive questions or otherwise question tags - disjunctive questions;
• Alternative questions - alternative questions;
• Questions with prepositions at the end.

Wh- questions or Special questions or special questions

The first type is special questions, in English they sound Wh-questions or Special questions. Sometimes they are also called questions to the subject. A special question always begins with a question word, for example, what,who, when, why, where(What? Who? When? Why? Where?).

When did you come home? (When you came home?)

Why don't you believe me? (Why you do not believe me?)

All these questions begin with WH, which is why special questions are called Wh questions. R interrogative words in this type of questions also apply how, how much, how long(How? How much? How long?).

How much money should we pay? (How much money do we have to pay?)

If a special question begins with who / what, then the word order in the question is direct, since the interrogative word replaces the subject.

Who is your doctor? (Who is your doctor?)

In this case, who/what is treated as 3rd person singular. number.

If the interrogative word in a special question does not replace the subject, then an auxiliary verb is placed after it (do/does, will(shall), did, have/has, etc.).

Compare:

Who is standing there? ( Who there costs?)

Who did you talk with? (With whom you said?)

General issues ( general questions)

They are called general because the answer to such a question can be either “yes” or “no”.

Second name of general questions yes/no question s. A general question begins with an auxiliary verb. After that, the subject or subject of the statement, then the semantic verb. Secondary members of the sentence go to the end.

Do you see me? ( You me see?) - No, I don't.

have you bee n there? ( You was there?) - Yes, I have.

Will you be here when I'm gone? (Will you be here when I leave?) - Yes, I will.

Thus, the answer to a general question contains "yes" or "no", and sometimes an auxiliary verb.

But! The verb to be in the present and past tense does not require auxiliary verbs.

Is he your friend? (Is he your friend?) - No, he isn't.

In the article "" I talk in more detail about this type of questions.

Dividers ( disjunctive questions)

The second name is question tags (questions with a tail). A tag is a kind of tail that is placed after the whole sentence. These questions are of the type denial - affirmation, and vice versa.

The second part of the sentence must correspond to what is included in the predicate.

You are ok, aren't you? (You're all right, aren't you?)

He knows my real name, doesn't he? (He knows my real name, doesn't he?)

These people don't know me, do they? (These people don't know me, do they?)

Tag or tail can be translated in many ways. Basically, possible translations: right? is not it? right? But in the Russian translation it is possible not to use the tail, inserting the word "because" in the middle of the sentence.

We are young, aren't we? (Are we young?)

The emphasis in such matters should fall on the second part.

In the article "" I talk in more detail about this type of questions.

alternative questions ( alternative questions)

A distinctive feature of such questions is the presence of the union "or" (or). This question cannot be answered in one word, it is necessary to make a choice.

Are you going to go there by plane or by car? (Are you going to get there by plane or by car?) - I'm going to go there by plane.

Is she your wife or not? (Is she your wife or not?) - She is my wife.

In the article "" I talk in more detail about this type of questions.

Questions with prepositions at the end

They could not be singled out in a separate category, but their compilation differs in some features.

Put the preposition at the end if the semantic verb has a special preposition. For example, to look for (look for something), look at (look at), to think of (think about something), to think about (think about someone) and others.

What are you looking at? (What are you looking at?)

What are you looking for? (What are you looking for?)

As you can see from the examples, the preposition end changed the very meaning of the question.

What do you depend on? (Who do you depend on?)

Who are thinking about? (Who are you thinking about)

To give a question a special tone or emphasize a single word in English questions, use intonation.

To the question Compose 5 types of questions in English. given by the author dewdrop the best answer is five types:
Wh- questions or Special questions (questions to the subject);
General questions (general questions);
Disjunctive questions or otherwise question tags (separating questions);
Alternative questions (alternative questions);
Questions with prepositions at the end.
Wh- questions or Special questions (Special questions)
The first type is special questions, in English they sound Wh-questions or Special questions. Sometimes they are also called questions to the subject. A special question always begins with an interrogative word, for example, what, who, when, why, where (What? Who? When? Why? Where?).
When did you come home? (When you came home?)
Why don't you believe me? (Why you do not believe me?)
All of these questions begin with WH, which is why the special questions are called Wh- questions. interrogative words in this type of questions also include how, how much, how long (How? How much? How long?).
How much money should we pay? (How much money do we have to pay?)
If a special question begins with who / what, then the word order in the question is direct, since the interrogative word replaces the subject.
Who is your doctor? (Who is your doctor?)
In this case, who/what is treated as 3rd person singular. number.
If the interrogative word in a special question does not replace the subject, then an auxiliary verb is placed after it (do/does, will(shall), did, have/has, etc.).
Compare:
Who is standing there? (Who is standing there?)
Who did you talk to? (With whom did you talk?)
General questions
They are called general because the answer to such a question can be either “yes” or “no”.
The second name of the general questions is yes/no questions. A general question begins with an auxiliary verb. After that, the subject or subject of the statement, then the semantic verb. Secondary members of the sentence go to the end.
Do you see me? (Can you see me?) - No, I don't.
Have you been there? (Were you there?) - Yes, I have.
Will you be here when I'm gone? (Will you be here when I leave?) - Yes, I will.
Thus, the answer to a general question contains "yes" or "no", and sometimes an auxiliary verb.
But! The verb to be in the present and past tense does not require auxiliary verbs.
Is he your friend? (Is he your friend?) - No, he isn't.
Disjunctive questions
The second name is question tags (questions with a tail). A tag is a kind of tail that is placed after the whole sentence. These questions are of the type denial - affirmation, and vice versa.
The second part of the sentence must correspond to what is included in the predicate.
You are ok, aren't you? (You're all right, aren't you?)
He knows my real name, doesn't he? (He knows my real name, doesn't he?)
These people don't know me, do they? (These people don't know me, do they?)
Tag or tail can be translated in many ways. Basically, possible translations: right? is not it? right? But in the Russian translation it is possible not to use the tail, inserting the word "because" in the middle of the sentence.
We are young, aren't we? (Are we young?)
The emphasis in such matters should fall on the second part.
Alternative questions (alternative questions)
A distinctive feature of such questions is the presence of the union "or" (or). This question cannot be answered in one word, it is necessary to make a choice.
Are you going to go there by plane or by car? (Are you going to get there by plane or by car?) - I'm going to go there by plane.
Is she your wife or not? (Is she your wife or not?) - She is my wife.
Questions with prepositions at the end
They could not be singled out in a separate category, but their compilation differs in some features.
Put the preposition at the end if the semantic verb has a special preposition. For example, to look for (look for something), look at (see
Marina Marina
(4407)
why did you give so much unnecessary information to a person ??? and why did you translate special questions as a question to the subject? this is a special question, and it can begin with the words how much, for example. in short, so much superfluous writing.

There are five types of questions in English. Let's take a closer look at each of them together. Each of the five types of interrogative sentences has its own word order, which you need to remember in order to learn how to ask questions correctly.

1. Question to the subject

In a sentence of this type, we keep the direct word order, leaving all the members of the sentence in their places. You just need to find the subject in the sentence and replace it with a suitable question word, i.e. question, to which the subject answers: either Who? Who? or What? -what? A question to the subject does not require the use of an auxiliary verb in the present and past tenses. It is only necessary to remember that the verb-predicate in the present tense takes the form of the third person singular.

Google shortcode

What forced you to do this? - What made you do it?
What made you worry? – What made you worry?
Who works in this office? Who works in this office?
Who traveled to the south? Who traveled south?
Who like swimming? - Who likes to swim?

2. General question

In this case, the question is asked to the entire sentence as a whole, there is no interrogative word in this case, and the answer is always unambiguous: either “yes” or “no”. Questions of this type are also known in English as "yes / no question". To translate such a sentence from Russian into English, you need to remember the following word order: Auxiliary verb (depending on the number of the subject and on which grammatical time the sentence belongs to) - subject - predicate - minor members.

Do you often go shopping? – Yes, I do – Do you often go shopping? - Yes
Does she like studying? - No, she doesn't - Does she like studying? - No
Is this film interesting? – yes, it is – is this film interesting? - Yes
Are you hungry? - no, I am not - are you hungry? - No

Notice how easy it is to put a general question to English declarative sentences. You just need to find the subject, choose the appropriate auxiliary verb for it and put it at the beginning of the sentence.

We live in a comfortable flat – Do we live in a comfortable flat?
He studies at a college – Does he study at a college?
They usually come here - Do they usually come here?
This student is very prospective – is this student very prospective?
My favorite colors are red and white – are my favorite colors red and white?

3. Alternative question

This question can be asked to each member of the sentence and you need to follow the same word order as when posing a general question, but with one feature - the sentence implies a choice between two persons, objects, actions or qualities and requires the use of the union “or”. Let's put an alternative question to the following sentence: We finished cooking dinner at 2 o'clock - we finished cooking dinner at 2 o'clock.

Did we finish cooking dinner at 2 or 3 o'clock? Did we finish cooking dinner at 2 or 3 o'clock?
Did we finish cooking or eating dinner 2 o'clock? Have we finished cooking or is there lunch at 2 o'clock?

4. Special question

A special question is asked to any member of the English sentence and requires the use of an interrogative word, and the word order is also reversed: in the first place (When? What? Where? Etc.) - an auxiliary verb (depending on the number of the subject and on what grammatical tense does the sentence refer to) - subject - predicate - minor members.

When does your lesson begin? – When does your lesson start?
What are you doing here? - What are you doing here?
When did you buy this vase? – When did you buy this vase?

5. Dividing question

The presence of such a question in English allows you to unobtrusively ask about things of interest, and in addition to express either doubt, surprise, or confirm what has been said. In Russian, a similar turnover is translated “isn't it? , is not it?". A similar question is divided into two parts: the first part is the sentence itself without changing the word order, the second part is a question consisting only of an auxiliary verb related to the grammatical tense of the sentence and the subject. If the sentence is affirmative, then the second part - the question will be negative, and if the sentence is negative, then vice versa, the question will not contain negation.

Your sister is a student, isn't she? Your sister is a student, isn't she?
Are you not busy, are you? You are not busy, are you?
He goes to bed very late, does not he? He stays up very late, doesn't he?
She doesn't eat meat, does she? She doesn't eat meat, does she?

Knowing the rules, you can easily correctly compose any interrogative sentence.

There are five types of questions in English:

I. General Question - General Question(for convenience of notation in further formulas, we denote this type of question by the letter T).

II. Alternative Question(question-choice).

III. Special Question Special Question

IV. Disjunctive question(question-request, declarative sentence + short question to it ( Question Tags)).

V. Question to the subject.

Characteristics of question types

I - applied to the whole offer, and it can be given short answer "yes" or "no":

Do you live in Kyiv? - Yes.
He is a student? - Not.

II - question-choice that cannot be answered with "yes" or "no" you have to choose an answer:

Do you live in Kyiv or Lvov? - I live in Kyiv.
Is he a student or a worker? - Student.

III - is put to some separate word (member) of the sentence(requires a specific answer). Based on this characteristic, we can put a question to the word - subject in the sentence, and this will also be a special question. But the construction of a question to the subject differs from the construction of all other special questions, therefore the question to the subject is taken out as an independent type of questions ( V).

Where do you live?
Who is he?

IV - corresponds to Russian questions - questions like "is not it?", "it's true?". These questions, as well as general questions, require an affirmative or negative answer, that is, the affirmation or denial of the thought expressed in the question.

I live in Kyiv, right?
He's not a student, is he?

V - to questions to the subject or to its definition short answers are usually given, which consist of the subject and the appropriate auxiliary verb in the required person, number, tense.

Who lives on Kiev? My sister does.

Building questions

1. The basis for constructing all types of questions(except the last one) is a common question. There are two ways to construct a general question:

First way refers to all sentences whose predicate is any form of verbs "to be", "to have" or modal verbs (if they are part of a complex predicate). The general question according to the first method is built according to the rule of the verb "to be".

Is not a student.
Is he a student?

I have read the book.
Have I read the book?

Second way applies to all other sentences (when the verbs listed above are not included in the predicate). The general question for the second method is built according to the formula:

Everyone knows this phrase without error, even those who cannot say anything else in English. It is taken as an example, a standard of a general question.

Using the substitution method according to this formula, you can put a general question to any sentence that fits the second method of constructing a question.

I live in Kiev.
Do I live in Kiev?

We lived in Kiev last year.
Did we live in Kiev last year?

He lives in Kiev.
Does he live in Kiev?

Having mastered the construction of the general question (which we T), we can proceed to the construction of all other questions.

2. An alternative question consists of a general question plus a choice given through the word "or" ("or").

Do you live in Kiev or in Lvov?

Briefly, this construction can be written as follows: T + "or".

3. A special question consists of a special word plus a general question.

Special questions are:

what- what, who
who- who
whose- whose, whose
where- where, where
when- when
why- why
which- which one, etc.

In all these special words, the first two letters are common. "wh", so the special question formula can be written as follows: "wh" + T

4. Separation questions consist of 2 parts: First part represents narration(declarative sentence) - affirmative or negative, a the second is a short general question for the first part (Question Tags), which consists of:

a) auxiliary (or modal) verb in the required form

b) subject (always in the form of a pronoun)

c) there is always an inverse relationship between the first and second parts: if the 1st part is positive, then the 2nd is negative and vice versa.

The tag question formula: S, + start T.

I live in Kiev.
I live in Kiev, don't I?
My friend is a student, isn't he?

Examples of the use of tag questions are discussed in scene 11.

5. To build question to subject(or its definition) in a declarative sentence, you only need to replace the subject with a question word who "who" or what "what", "which", whose "whose", which "which". No more build changes.

Question words who, what, which usually agree with the verb-predicate in the 3rd person singular.

I live in Kiev?
Who lives in Kiev?
My friend is a student.
Who is a student?

5 types of questions in English are sometimes incomprehensible to pupils, students and all those who study English. Therefore, all types of interrogative sentences in English are considered here.
1. General Questions

The general question in English is the simplest. This is a question that provides either "yes" or "no" as an answer. That is a question for general information. Therefore, sometimes this question is called "yes / no question".

It is formed by moving an auxiliary verb or modal verb to the first position in a sentence. Full rule:

Auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + object

The auxiliary verb depends on what tense you want to ask:

Past Simple - Did
Present Simple - Do / Does
Future Simple - Shall / Will
Past Continuous - Was / Were
Present Continuous - Am / Is / Are
Future Continuous - Shall / Will
Past Perfect-Had
Present Perfect - Have/Has
Future Perfect - Shall / Will + after the subject comes the auxiliary verb have
Past Perfect Continuous - Had + after the subject comes the auxiliary verb has been
Present Perfect Continuous - Have / Has + after the subject comes the auxiliary verb has been
Future Perfect Continuous - Shall / Will + after the subject comes auxiliary verbs have been
Future in the Past - Would

Answers to a general question can be either short (Yes / No + subject and auxiliary or modal verb) or complete. The time remains unchanged. examples:

Have you been to London? - Yes, I have (Yes, I have been to London). - Have you been to London? Yes (I was in London).

Did you buy this car? - Yes, I did (Yes, I bought this car). — Did you buy this car? — Yes (I bought this car).

Do they play football? - No, they do not (No, they do not play football). - They play football? No (they don't play football).

Could you do that? - No, I could not (No, I could not do that). - Could you do it? — No (no, I can do it).

2. Special Questions

A special question is a question for more information. This question always begins with an interrogative word (except for the interrogative words What and Who - they are used in questions to the subject).
The word order in special questions is the same as in general questions, with one exception: the auxiliary verb is preceded by an interrogative word. Examples:

What did you visit in Kyiv last time? — What have you recently visited in Kyiv?

Where do they go? — Where are they going?

How did you manage to get tickets? How did you manage to get tickets?

3. Question to the subject (Who ...? What ...?)

If there is a need to put a question to the subject, then use the interrogative words Who? and What?. The word order in the question is slightly changed from the previous two, since the subject itself is not used in relation to the subject. That is, the formula will be as follows:

Who / What + semantic verb + object

Who is he? - Who is he?

What is that? - What is it?

4. Alternative Questions

An alternative question involves two or more choices through the use of the word or. The word order in such a question is the same as in the general question.

Does she like coffee or tea? Does she like coffee or tea?

Did he buy motorbike or bicycle? Did he buy a motorcycle or a bicycle?

5. Questions with punctuation marks (Disjunctive Questions)

The dividing question is called so because it is divided into two parts by means of a coma. In the first part of the question there is a statement, and in the second - a question to this statement. The purpose of the disjunctive question is to test the veracity of the statement. These questions are often used in colloquial speech, when the interlocutor "inadvertently" tries to find out some information based on the available facts.

Part 1 - part of the dividing question - this is a typical affirmative sentence with a typical word order in it: subject - verb - application.

Part 2 is an auxiliary verb in the tense indicated in part 1 and the subject. If we build a question from a statement, then there will be objections in part 2. If we build a question from negation, then there will be an affirmation.

Example:

Are you playing tennis? You play tennis, don't you?

He goes to the gym, does not he? He goes to the gym, doesn't he?

Bill is not famous person, is he? Bill is not a known person, is he?

They have not been to Paris, have they? They haven't been to Paris, have they?