How to ask the right question in English
Video: How To Ask The Right Question: Hal Gregersen at TEDxYouth@IFTA 2024, July
English is one of the most widely spoken languages for communication in the world, therefore, knowledge of it has a great influence on success and progress in work. Many people study this particular language, considering it easy to learn, but English grammar has its pitfalls. In particular, this concerns the correct construction of interrogative phrases.
Instruction manual
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Interrogative sentences in English are of two types: general and special. General questions are asked in order to get a monosyllabic answer, affirmative or negative. Special questions relate to one of the members of the proposal, and he is the expected answer.
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To correctly ask a question in English, follow the word order. It must be strict, any violation will lead to an error. A feature of this language is the presence of auxiliary and modal verbs. The structure of the general interrogative sentence in the present tense is as follows: Do (Does) / Can?
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Examples: Do you speak English? - Yes / No, I do / don't. Does he like sports? - Yes / No, he does / doesn't. Can she cook? - Yes / No, she does / doesn't.
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Depending on the time (Tense) in question, use the appropriate constructions additional verb + semantic verb: Past Simple: Did it happen? - did + a verb in a certain form; Present Perfect: Has she arrived? - have / has + the third form of the verb; Future Simple: Will you go there? - will / shall + a verb in a certain form, etc.
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If the construction of the predicate is a combination of three verbs, then only the first is put in the first place. Example: Have you been working since morning?
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The structure of special questions differs from general ones only in that a special interrogative word is put in the first place. As for verbs, their construction and order remains the same and is put in the sentence after a special word.
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A question word or group of words refers to a member of a sentence about which a question is asked, and replaces it in most cases. These words: who, what, which, when, where, why, how, how much, how long, etc.: How much is the fish? When did you come? What does he do?
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If the question relates to the definition, then it remains in the interrogative sentence after the special word: What dress have you bought? How many students are in your class?
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The preposition is put before a special word only if the question relates to a prepositional indirect supplement, for example: To whom did she read this interesting book two days ago?