Questions

1. Yes/no questions

Yes/no questions are those which can be answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. We put the auxiliary verb before the subject.

Here is a table which shows how to form yes/no questions:

2. Short answers

We can give short answers to yes/no questions in two ways:

Using the same auxiliary verb as in the original question:

Does he like cats? Yes, he does. / No, he doesn’t.

Aren’t they here? Yes, they are. / No, they aren’t.

Can you swim? Yes, I can. / No, I can’t.

With afraid/think/suppose/imagine, etc + so/not:

Does he like cats? I don’t think so.

I think so.

I hope so.

I suppose not.

I hope not.

3. Wh– (open) questions

Wh– or Open questions start with a question word and the answer can vary according to the question word.

When we ask a question about the object or any of the compliment, we put the question word first, then we use the same question word order as in yes/no questions:

When we ask a question about the subject, we keep the original word order (affirmative order) but we replace the subject with ‘who’:

4. Prepositions

It is important to keep the preposition of the verb when we ask a question. Prepositions can go to two places:

At the front of the questions, before the question word:

At whom are you looking?

About which book did you talk?

At the end of the question:

Who are you looking at?

Which book did you talk about?

The two solutions are equal. Some people prefer the first option, whereas some people prefer the second option.

Note: preposition + who becomes: preposition + whom

5. What or which?

We use what when there is an unlimited choice:

What car would you like to buy? (out of all the existing types)

What would you like to eat? (you can choose whatever you want)

We use which when there is a limited choice:

Which car would you like? (out of those you can see here)

Which would you like to eat? (out of those you can see here)