English Class – Asking Questions

Questions in different tenses:

Simple present What does he read?
Present progressive What is he reading?
Simple past What did he read?
Past progressive What was he reading?
Past perfect What has he read?

Questions are formed in two ways:

• If the original tense has a helping verb (i.e. a form of be or have), then the
question is formed as follows:
question word + helping verb conjugated to match the subject + subject +
form of the verb
used for the tense
• If the original tense does not have a helping verb, then the question is formed as
follows:
question word + do conjugated to match the subject + subject + root form of
the verb

Exercise
Directions: Form a question that uses the question word in parentheses.

1. Peter's birthday is coming up. (when?)

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2. Zoe and her dad made a kite. (what?)
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3. Jen and Alexis played checkers all morning. (who?)
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4. The two girls were sitting on the porch in the sun. (where?)
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5. Farmer Ben, his wife, Rose, and their children all live on a farm. (who?)
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6. The big yellow school bus is pulling to a stop at the corner of the street.
(where?)
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(over)
7. In spring, many people plant gardens. (when?)
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8. The nice spring weather gives kids a chance to do fun things outside. (what?)
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9. My friends are going shopping all day long tomorrow. (who?)
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10. The football game should be an interesting game to watch. (what?)
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11. The black cat jumped up on the chair. (what?)
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12. Sally is sipping her coffee while she reads the newspaper. (who?)
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13. The mailman said “hello.” (what?)
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14. Sam wants to read the new magazine, but Susan is still reading it. (who?)
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15. Dan gave Megan a new CD for her birthday. (to whom?)
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16. Sandra does not like having to talk to telemarketers. (what?)
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17. Jim wants to go skiing, but he cannot afford to take a day off of work. (why?)
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18. Jane has gone to the library two times this week. (who?)
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