Basic Question Types

There are 3 basic types of question:

1. Yes/No Questions (the answer to the question is "Yes" or "No")

2. Question Word Questions (the answer to the question is "Information")
3. Choice Questions (the answer to the question is "in the question")

1. Yes/No Questions

auxiliary verb subject main verb Answer

Yes or No

Do you want dinner? Yes, I do.

Can you drive? No, I can't.

Has she finished her work? Yes, she has.

Did they go home? No, they didn't.

Exception! verb be simple present and simple past

Is Anne French? Yes, she is.

Was Ram at home? No, he wasn't.

2. Question Word Questions

question auxiliary subject main Answer

word verb verb Information

Where do you live? In Paris.

When will we have lunch? At 1pm.

Who did she meet? She met Ram.

Why hasn't Tara done it? Because she

can't.

Exception! verb be simple present and simple past

Where is Bombay? In India.

How was she? Very well.

3. Choice Questions

auxiliary subject main OR Answer

verb verb In the question

Do you want tea or coffee? Coffee, please.

Will we meet John or James? John.

Did she go to or New She went to

London York? London.

Exception! verb be simple present and simple past

Is your car white or black? It's black.

Were they $15 or $50? $15.

Now check your understanding »

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions_types.htm

Kinds of Questions
In the English language there are several types of questions.
1. General questions
Also known as "Yes/No questions" because a short answer (yes or no) is
expected. This kind of question is formed by putting an auxiliary verb before the
subject (=inversion).
General questions most often start with: Do? Did? Have? Has? Is? Are? Was?
Were? Can? Could? etc.
Examples:
 Are you from Brazil? Answer: Yes, I am / No, I am not
 Did you meet Andy? Answer: Yes, I did / No, I didn't
 Was she at home yesterday? Answer: Yes, she was / No, she wasn't
2. Special Questions
Special questions are those questions that ask for details. Special questions are
also called Wh-questions as most of them start with "wh".
For example: What? Which? When? Where? Why? Whose?
Other special questions include: How? How many? How much?
Special questions require inversion, like general questions.
 Where are you from? Answer: I am from India
 What are you wearing on your head? Answer: I'm wearing a hat or It's a
hat!
 How much money do you have? Answer: I have only $10.
 How old are you? Answer: I'm 16.

Attention: If the subject of a special question is the question word itself, then this
kind of question is calledsubject question.
Subject questions have the word order of an affirmative sentence.
 Who will buy milk?
 Who's in charge here?
 What makes you think so?
 Who wants some coffee?
 Will who buy milk?
 Is who in charge here?
 What does make you think so?

3. Disjunctive questions
Disjunctive questions are also called question tags. They are mini-questions
that appear at the end of sentence:
You can read more on this topic here.
4. Embedded questions
Embedded questions are also called indirect questions.
Such questions have affirmative word order, and are used in two situations:
a) polite questions ("question within questions")
 Could you tell me where the bus station is?
 Could you tell me where is the bus station?
b) reported speech
 He asked me if I could help him.
 He asked me could I help him.

You can read more on this topic here.

http://www.eslmonster.com/article/kinds-of-questions

2011 jan 17