Questions: Word order and question words

Explanation Exercises Downloads

Exercise 3

Exercises:1 2 3 4

Write questions about the underlined words. We give you the question word.

EXAMPLE: We are in Scotland. ⇒ Where are you?

She reads magazines. ⇒ What ?

My birthday is on 10th April. ⇒ When ?

She lives in a big house. ⇒ Where ?

I study because I want to learn. ⇒ Why ?

She is sometimes wrong. ⇒ How often ?

I love Christina. ⇒ Who ?

I keep the money in a safe. ⇒ Where ?

I'm tired because it's very late. ⇒ Why ?

My doctor is Dr Stevens. ⇒ Who ?

I clean the windows with water and vinegar. ⇒ How ?

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Word order in present simple questions

The order of words in an English question in present simple is QWASI: (Question Word) + Auxiliary + Subject + Infinitive.

What do you do?
Where do they live?

In Yes-No questions (questions that we answer saying yes or no) there is NO Question Word.

Do you speak English?
Does she live here?

The auxiliary verb in present simple is be or do/does. Below, you can see a grammar chart on the order of words in present simple questions with be or do/does.

Grammar chart for A1 elementary English learners showing the word order of Present Simple questions with 'be' and 'do', including question words, auxiliary verbs, subjects, and main verbs.

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Questions with am/is/are

When the verb in the sentence is be, we use am/is/are as the auxiliary verb before the subject. Then the word order is QWAS: (Question Word) + Auxiliary (am/is/are) + Subject

Questions with do/does

When we have a verb that is not be, we use do/does as the auxiliary verb.
We use does with he/she/it and do with I/you/we/they. Remember that the main verb after the subject is in the infinitive form (NOT -s or -es).

What does she do?
What does she does?
Where does he work?
Where does he works?

Question words – Grammar chart

Educational chart for A1 elementary English learners displaying different question words such as 'who', 'where', 'when', 'why', 'what', 'how', including example dialogues for each.

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What + noun

We often use the question word what + noun as a question word: what time, what colour, what size, etc.

What colour is your jacket?
What size do you want?
What car does he have?

How + adjective/adverb

We can also use how + adjective/adverb as a question word in phrases like how often, how old, how tall, etc.

How fast is your car?
How big is her house?
How often do you play sports?

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