Pimp my English | Asking questions

By Anna Malczyk

Constructing questions correctly is very important to making yourself understood. There are three things to remember: question words, word order, and the question mark.

Question words
Questions can either result in a yes or no answer, or can result in a concrete, specific one. The latter group requires you to use a question word. Question words are those words that signal that the sentence is a question. They are:

What – asking about things or activities
Which – asking about a specific thing
When – asking about time
Where – asking about place
How – asking about method
Why – asking about the reason
Who (and whose) – asking about a person

Word order
For both types of questions, the subject and the verb usually swap places.

Normal sentence: Subject – verb – object
Specific question: [Question word –] verb – subject – object

For example:

Normal sentence: He is going to the park.
Specific question: Where is he going?
Yes or no question: Is he going to the park?

Therefore, if a sentence begins with a question word, or with a verb followed by a subject, it is a question.

Question mark
The rule for the question mark is very simple: if the sentence is a question, put a question mark at the end of it!