Basic Questions in English

 Asking questions helps you figure out where the train station is, what you’re ordering from a restaurant or
what time you are meeting friend
 In English, there are two basic types of questions: Yes / No questions and wh-questions. Yes / No questions are
also called closed questions because there are only two possible responses: Yes or No
 When forming a Yes / No question, it must include one of these verbs: Be, Do, Have or modal Verbs. It is
impossible to ask a Yes / No question without one of these verbs.

correct incorrect
Are elections next year? Elections next year?
Does he want to stay? He want to stay?
Have the boys eaten? The boys eaten?
Can the dog swim? The dog swim?
 Use the verb BE to ask Yes / No questions about the identity or description of a person, place, or
thing. Note that the response can be short (Yes. / No.), or long: Yes or No followed by the subject and verb.

question response
Am I your friend? Yes. / Yes, you are. / Yes, you are
my friend.
Is this a good restaurant? No. / No, it is not. / No, it is not a
good restaurant.
Are these islands Greek? Yes. / Yes, they are. / Yes, these
islands are Greek.
Was his idea interesting? No. / No, it wasn’t. / No, his idea
was not interesting.
Were they happy? Yes. / Yes, they were. / Yes, they
were happy.
 Use the verb BE with a preposition to ask Yes / No questions about a present or past location .

question response
Am I at the correct location? No. / No, you aren’t.
Are the keys under the books? No. / No, they are not.
Was his house on an island? Yes. / Yes, it was.
Were the demonstrations in the No. / No, they weren’t.
center of town?

 Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question about a current activity or situation. This requires the present
progressive : BE + (verb+ing).

question response
Am I going with you and Tom? Yes. / Yes, you are.
Is she working today? No. / No, she isn’t.
Are we seeing a play tomorrow? Yes. / Yes, we are.
 Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question about a past activity or situation. This requires the past continuous
tense past progressive : WAS / WERE + (verb+ing).
question response
Was it raining? Yes. / Yes, it was.
Were they playing? No. / No, they weren’t.
 Use the verb BE to ask a Yes / No question with the passive voice.
question response
Is gold mined in Canada? Yes. / Yes it is.
Are flowers grown here? No. / No, they are not.
Was the book read? Yes. / Yes, it was.

 Use the verb HAVE to ask if somebody has done something or if some action has taken place. Note that
these Yes / No questions use the present perfect (HAVE + past participle).

question response
Has your brother left? No. / No, he hasn’t.
Have you driven before? Yes. / Yes, I have.
Has the party started? Yes. / Yes, it has.
 Use the verb DO to ask Yes / No questions in order to obtain facts about people, places, or things.
question response
Do they smoke? No. / No, they don’t.
Does it rain here? Yes. / Yes, it does.
Did the key work? No. / No, it didn’t.

 Use modal verbs to ask Yes / No questions about possibilities or uncertainties

question response
Can we stay? Yes. / Yes, we can. / Yes, we can
stay.
Could this be true? Yes. / Yes, it could (be true).
Should they stop? No. / No, they shouldn’t (stop).
May I help you? Yes. / Yes you may (help me).
 Remember: When asking Yes / No questions with DO or a modal verb, the main verb remains in the base
form (without to)
correct incorrect
Do you drink coffee? Do you to drink coffee?
Does she work here? Does she to work here?
Can I go with you? Can I to go with you?
Should we email her? Should we to email her?

 However, if there are two verbs that follow DO, the second verb remains in the infinitive (with to).

correct incorrect
Do you want to drink coffee? Do you want drink coffee?
Does she like to work here? Does she like work here?
Did you need to go home? Did you need go home?
 Note that there are several ways to answer Yes / No questions, especially when using contractions.

question response
Is he busy? No.
No, he isn’t.
No, he’s not.
No, he is not.
No, he isn’t busy.
No, he’s not busy.
No, he is not busy
 Wh-Questions
• Wh- questions are named for the words that are at the beginning of the questions themselves. Let’s take a
look at these words in detail. By the way, don’t be surprised to see a word beginning with an h on this list

What
We use “what” to asking about something. Generally, answers to these questions are a noun such as a place,
thing or idea.
Examples include:
What is your favorite book?
What time is it?
What do you study at college?
You can also use “what” to ask someone to repeat something if you didn’t hear or understand something:
What did you say again?
What?
 When
To ask about time or date, we use the wh- question word “when.”
Examples include:
When does the movie start?
When did you finish your homework?
When are we meeting at the restaurant?
For a specific time, you could replace “when” with “what time.”
What time does the movie start?

Where
“Where” is the wh- question word that’s used to ask about a location.
For example, you might ask:
Where did you go to school?
Where were you born?
Where is the bar?
 Who
Use “who” to ask a question that requires the answer to be a person or multiple people.

Example questions include:

Who is your brother?
Who did you eat lunch with?
Who are your favorite actors and actresses?

“Whom” is a similar word to “who,” but it’s not always used in everyday English.
Technically, “whom” also asks about a person or people, but here they’re the object of sentence . For example,
you might ask:

To whom should we send the letter?

We should send the letter to my mom.
Keep in mind, however, that “whom” is somewhat formal. You can substitute it for “who” in everyday
conversation
 Why

“Why” is used when asking for a reason or an explanation. Answers to these types of questions generally
include the word “because.”

• For example:

Why is the stove on?

It’s on because I’m boiling water for pasta.

Why didn’t you come to my party?

Because I was too tired

How

While the word “how” doesn’t start with a wh-, it’s included in this list because it acts the same way as wh-
question words.

You should use “how” to ask in what way or manner something works or happens.
• For example:
How did my car get scratched?
How do you cook broccoli?
Further, you can use “how” to ask about the condition or quality of something.

• For example:
How was your day at work?
How was the movie you watched last night?
How is your cat doing?

Adding an adjective or adverb after the word “how” can also ask for specific information. Here are some
of the most common examples:
“How far” asks about distance — How far is the shopping mall?
“How long” asks about time — How long did you cook the turkey?
“How many” asks about a quantity that can be counted— How many rooms are in your house?
• How much” asks about a quantity that can’t be counted — How much water do you drink every day?

• Or, you can use “how much” to ask about money — How much did you pay for your car?

• “How old” asks about age — How old is your son?

• “How come” is an informal way to ask “why” — How come you didn’t come to school yesterday
 TUGAS DIKERJAKAN DI JAM SAYA DAN DIKUMPULKAN HARI INI
1. PELAJARILAH POWER POINT INI DAN BUATLAH MASING-MASING 3
CONTOH UNTUK YES/NO QUESTION YANG DICETAK BIRU
2. BUATLAH 3 CONTOH UNTUK MASING-MASING WH QUESTION
3. JAWABAN DITULIS TANGAN, DI FOTO DAN DIKUMPULKAN KE GRUP
BAHASA INGGRIS
TERIMA KASIH