There are two kinds of questions:
yes/no questions
and
information questions
A yes/no question is a question that can be answered by "Yes" or "No."
An information question is a question that asks for information by using
a question word, such as who, whose, whom, what, when, where, why, which
or how.
Examples of Yes/No questions and answers
YES/NO QUESTION | SHORT
ANSWER (AND LONG ANSWER) |
Can you drive? | Yes,
I can. (Yes, I can drive.) No, I can't. (No, I can't drive.) |
Do you know Tom? | Yes,
I do. (Yes, I know Tom.) No, I don't. (No, I don't know Tom.) |
Will Lois be here soon? | Yes,
she will. (Yes, she will be here soon.) No, she won't. (No, she won't be here soon.) |
Did it snow yesterday? | Yes,
it did. (Yes, it snowed yesterday.) No, it didn't. (No, it didn't snow yesterday.) |
Was Peter at work? | Yes,
he was. (Yes, he was at work.) No, he wasn't. (No, he wasn't at work.) |
Are you studying English? | Yes,
I am. (Yes, I'm studying English.) No, I'm not. (No, I'm not studying English.) |
The same subject-verb word order is used in both Yes/No questions
and information questions:
Helping verb + Subject + Main verb
See some of the important exceptions below.
Examples of Information Questions
Question word | Helping verb | Subject | Main verb | (Rest of sentence) | Comment |
Where |
Does does |
Lewis
Lewis |
live live? |
in Chicago? | |
Where | Is
is |
Claire
Claire |
working
working? |
at home? | |
When | Will
will |
you
you |
graduate
graduate? |
next year? | |
Who(m) | Did did |
they
they |
see
see? |
Jill? | |
Where | Is
is |
Sharon
Sharon? |
at home? | Note that "IS" comes before the subject. | |
Who What |
came happened |
to
dinner? yesterday? |
Note that when using a question word as a subject, the usual word order is not used. No form of "DO" occurs. |