Question Form

Sam An Teng

Questions are formed in several ways in English; as,

1. TO BE

We simply reverse the positions of be and subject:

Form: 

• To be + sub + complement?

For examples,

• Are you Cambodian?
• Were they your former colleagues?

2. AUXILIARY (BE/HAVE/DO)

We simply reverse the positions of auxiliary and subject:

Form: 

• Auxiliary + subject + main verb?

For examples,

• Is she working in a bank?
• Do you like coffee?
• Have you reviewed the lessons?

NOTE: When the sentence has no auxiliary verb, to make question we use “do”. For examples,

• He likes Mary. --> Does he like Mary?
• They went to Siem Reap. --> Did they go to Siem Reap?

3. MODAL VERBS

We simply reverse the positions of modal (can, could, may, might, must, should, will, would) and subject:

Form: 

• Modal + subject + main verb?

For examples,

• Can you fix the computer? No, I can’t.
• When will we have lunch? At 1pm.

4. WH- IS THE SUBJECT

Use positive word order - not question word order.

Form: 

• Wh- + verb ……?

For examples,

• Sopheak wrote the letter.--> Who wrote the letter?
• Sopheak won a scholarship. --> Who won the scholarship?
• Russia is the biggest country in the world. --> What/Which is the biggest country in the world?

5. WITH PREPOSITIONS

In some questions we need to add PREPOSITION in order to make it meaningful.

For examples,

• Where do you want to travel to?
• Where do you come from?
• What is this paper for?

6. TAG QUESTIONS

It is a statement followed by a mini-question. If the statement is positive, the mini-question (question tag) is negative. If the statement is negative, the mini-question (question tag) is positive.

Form:

• Positive statement, negative tag?
• Negative statement, positive tag?

For examples,

• You are a student, aren't you?
• She likes ice-cream, doesn't she?
• You didn't read the news, did you?
• They can't speak English, can they?

See more details here. 

7. INDIRECT QUESTIONS

Indirect question is a statement within another statement/question. Indirect questions are polite, longer forms of normal questions. 

Form:

• a polite expression + a question [which has no subject/verb inversion like a normal question.]

For examples,

      Direct Question               --> Indirect Question

• What is your name?    --> Can you tell me what your name is?
• Where do you live?     --> I wonder if you can tell me where you live.
• Do you like coffee?     --> I want to know if/whether you like coffee.

Here are some common polite expressions:

• Do you know ………………………?
• I wonder ……………
• I can't remember ... …………
• Could you tell me ... …………?
• Would you mind telling me ... …………?
• Would it be possible for you to... …………?
• Is there any chance you could... …………?
• I don't suppose you could... …………
• I'd like to know ... …………
• I can't remember... …………

See more details here.