Questions are NOT actually hard to form. For example:
Who?
When?
What?
Why?
How?
Where?
Which?
That's 7 questions made with only a single word.
Subject question formation:
Questions help us manage a conversation - steer it, control it, make it GO where we want it to.
When in conversation, be explorative and proactive. Prompt your conversational partners. Try to anticipate and direct the subject matter by asking interesting questions that lead the conversation somewhere interesting.
A well-known English teacher I once knew always used to ask her students this question at the end of a lesson:
"What questions did you ask today?"
Prompts like these elicit further input from a conversational partner. Use them!
Really?
Interesting.
Go on?
Okay.
Yes?
Great.
Common grammatical blocks
How long time?
Now Watch Jade's class:
Did you forgotten the keys?
What kind of question is it?
a yes/no question, a subject question, a tag question, a rhetorical question, an indirect question...?
Can you imagine a world without ... ?
What kind of life would we have lived without ... ?
You mean ... might not be the only ... ?
How could that possibly be better than ... ?
Wouldn’t you say ... ?
Is there anything you want to add ... ?
Does it make sense that ... ?
It was said ... , wasn’t it?
What's the general purpose of these questions?
Reacting to questions
SIMPLE PRESENT QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| Where | do | you | work? | |
| What | does | Martha | think | about the project? |
| How | do | you | like | your new apartment? |
| How many kids | does | Bob | have? |
SIMPLE PAST QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| How | did | they | learn | English so fast? |
| When | did | you | get home | from work yesterday? |
| What | did | the manager | think | about your idea? |
| Where | did | you | buy | that T-shirt? |
PRESENT CONTINUOUS QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| What | are | you | doing | at the moment? |
| Why | is | he | ignoring | me? |
| What time | are | we | meeting up | for dinner? |
| Who | is | she | dating | now? |
PAST CONTINUOUS QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| Who | were | you | talking | to on the phone? |
| What | was | Jim | doing | when you called? |
| Why | were | the children | eating | candy before dinner? |
| How | was | he | feeling | after the surgery? |
PRESENT PERFECT QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| How much money | have | you | spent | on clothes this month? |
| How long | has | your teacher | worked | at this school? |
| What | have | they | been doing | all day? |
| How long | has | the client | been waiting | for their order? |
FUTURE QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| Who | will | you | invite | to the party? |
| What | will | your parents | think | about your plan? |
| When | are | you | going | to clean your room? |
| Why | is | she | going | to quit her job? |
MODAL QUESTIONS:
| QUESTION WORD | AUXILIARY VERB | SUBJECT | MAIN VERB | |
| What | would | you | do | if you had a million dollars? |
| How | could | we | improve | our English? |
| Where | should | I | go | on my next vacation? |
Questions help us manage a conversation - steer it, control it, make it GO where we want it to.
If we find it tricky to articulate questions, it can be really hard to even think of them, and to develop a conversation fully. It ends up getting stuck in the mud.
Even native speakers may be quite limited in using different forms of question.
Think of questions as the keys that open conversations up. Or the crane that lifts you out of the mud.
Think of questions as the keys that open conversations up. Or the crane that lifts you out of the mud.
Insert the missing words, then use these questions to interview someone you don't know very well.
When in conversation, be explorative and proactive. Prompt your conversational partners. Try to anticipate and direct the subject matter by asking interesting questions that lead the conversation somewhere interesting.
A well-known English teacher I once knew always used to ask her students this question at the end of a lesson:
"What questions did you ask today?"
Prompts like these elicit further input from a conversational partner. Use them!
Really?
Interesting.
Go on?
Okay.
Yes?
Great.
Continue.
Did you really?
Perfect.
Nice.
How terrible.
Oh.
And?
Then what?
So?
Crazy!
Amazing.
No!?
You're kidding, aren't you?
Funny. Keep talking!
Good one.
Good for you.
Of course.
No way!?
Ha ha.
Yeah.
Yeah?
Yeah!
Set yourself a simple goal. When you're talking in class and outside of class today, make sure you try using some new interjections and prompts.
Did you really?
Perfect.
Nice.
How terrible.
Oh.
And?
Then what?
So?
Crazy!
Amazing.
No!?
You're kidding, aren't you?
Funny. Keep talking!
Good one.
Good for you.
Of course.
No way!?
Ha ha.
Yeah.
Yeah?
Yeah!
Set yourself a simple goal. When you're talking in class and outside of class today, make sure you try using some new interjections and prompts.
Instead of saying "okay" and "yes" try saying something less predictable. You will find this helps the other person feel more heard.
Common grammatical blocks
Watch Emma's class:
Now Watch Jade's class:
Did you forgotten the keys?
What kind of question is it?
a yes/no question, a subject question, a tag question, a rhetorical question, an indirect question...?
Can you imagine a world without ... ?
What kind of life would we have lived without ... ?
You mean ... might not be the only ... ?
How could that possibly be better than ... ?
Wouldn’t you say ... ?
Is there anything you want to add ... ?
Does it make sense that ... ?
It was said ... , wasn’t it?
What's the general purpose of these questions?
Reacting to questions
When someone asks you a question, try commenting on the question before you answer it.
Oh, it's funny you should ask me that because...
I was wondering if you'd ask me that.
I wasn't expecting that question.
That's an interesting question.
I like the question.
That's a tricky one
This question makes me feel happy because...
I was hoping you'd ask me that.
Oh not that question!
Hmmm. Let me think about that.
Can you be more specific?
Can you rephrase the question?
What do you mean exactly?
Good question.
Tough question.
Nice question.
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