Wh questions (Question Words)

Types of questions
There are two types of questions:

Yes or no questions Wh questions

Question words
Question words are also called wh questions because they include the letters 'W' and 'H'. Question words who where why when how what which whose whom what kind what time person place reason time manner object, idea or action choice possession object of the verb description time Meaning Examples Who's that? That's Nancy. Where do you live? In Boston Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early When do you go to work? At 7:00 How do you go? By car What do you do? I am an engineer Which one do you prefer? The red one. Whose is this book? It's Alan's. Whom did you meet? I met the manager. What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs What time did you come home?

how many how much how long how often how far how old how come

quantity (countable) amount, price (uncountable) duration, length frequency distance age reason

How many students are there? There are twenty. How much time have we got? Ten minutes How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks. How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week. How far is your school? It's one mile far. How old are you? I'm 16. How come I didn't see at the party?

Asking questions
1.If you ask about the subject of the sentence, simply add the question word at the beginning: Example: James writes good poems. Who writes good pems? 2.If you ask about the predicate of the sentence (the part of a sentence which contains the verb and gives information about the subject), there are three options:

If there is a helping (auxilary) verb that precedes the main verb ( foe example, can, is, are, was, were, will, would...), add the question word and invert the subject and the helping (auxilary) verb. Examples: He can speak Chinese. What can he speak? They are leaving tonight. When are they leaving? If you ask about the predicate and there is no helping (auxilary) verb and the verb is "to be", simply add the question verb and invert the subject and the verb. Example: The play was interesting. How was the play? If there is no helping (auxilary) verb in the the predicate and the main verb is not "to be", add the auxilary "do" in the appropriate form. Examples: They go to the movies every Saturday. Where do they go to the movies? He wakes up early. When does he wake up? They sent a letter. What did they send?

Related material:

wh-questions Exercise on question words 1 Exercise on question words 2

WH Question Words
We use question words to ask certain types of questions (question word questions). We often refer to them as WH words because they include the letters WH (for example WHy, HoW).
Question Word Function Example

what

asking for information about something

What is your name?

asking for repetition or confirmation

What? I can't hear you. You did what?

what...for

asking for a reason, asking why

What did you do that for?

when

asking about time

When did he leave?

where

asking in or at what place or position

Where do they live?

which

asking about choice

Which colour do you want?

who

asking what or which person or people (subject)

Who opened the door?

whom

asking what or which person or people (object)

Whom did you see?

whose

asking about ownership

Whose are these keys? Whose turn is it?

why

asking for reason, asking what...for

Why do you say that?

why don't

making a suggestion

Why don't I help you?

how

asking about manner

How does this work?

asking about condition or quality

How was your exam?

how + adj/adv

asking about extent or degree

see examples below

how far

distance

How far is Pattaya from Bangkok?

how long

length (time or space)

How long will it take?

how many

quantity (countable)

How many cars are there?

how much

quantity (uncountable)

How much money do you have?

how old

age

How old are you?

how come (informal)

asking for reason, asking why

How come I can't see her?

Telling Time. The verb ser is used to express the time of day. Use es when referring to "one o'clock" and use son when referring to all other hours. Es la una. It's one o'clock. Son las dos. It's two o'clock. The feminine article (la, las) is used before the hour because it refers to "la hora." Es la una. It's one o'clock. Son las dos. It's two o'clock. Minutes can be added to the hour using the word y (and). Es la una y cinco. It's five minutes past one. Son las tres y doce. It's twelve minutes past three. Minutes can be subtracted from the hour using the word menos (less). Es la una menos cinco. It's five minutes till one. Son las tres menos doce. It's twelve minutes till three. You can also use the words media (half) and cuarto (quarter). Es la una y media. It's half past one. Son las dos y cuarto. It's quarter past two. Son las tres menos cuarto. It's quarter till three. To say something occurs at a specific time, use the formula a + la(s) + time. La fiesta empieza a las nueve. The party begins at nine o'clock. El banco abre a las ocho y media. The bank opens at half past eight. To differentiate between a.m. and p.m. use the expressions de la maana, de la tarde and de la noche. Son las dos de la tarde. It's two in the afternoon. Son las dos de la maana. It's two in the morning. Son las diez de la noche. It's ten in the evening. When no specific time is mentioned, use the expressions por la maana, por la tarde, por la noche. Siempre leo el peridico por las maanas. I always read the newspaper in the morning. Here are a number of useful time expressions: por la maana in the morning (no specific time) de la maana in the morning (specific time) por la tarde in the afternoon (no specific time) de la tarde in the afternoon (specific time) por la noche in the evening or night (no specific time) de la noche in the evening or night (specific time) la maana morning el maana morrow, future maana por la maana tomorrow morning pasado maana the day after tomorrow ayer yesterday anoche last night la noche anterior, anteanoche the night before last el lunes que viene next Monday la semana que viene next week el ao que viene next year el lunes pasado last Monday la semana pasada last week el ao pasado last year al medioda at noon a la medianoche at midnight alrededor de around de da days durante el da during the day a tiempo on time en punto exactly, on-the-dot tarde late temprano early.