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Want to relax and not think about the word order in a sentence? We have a way:who- questions,questions about it in English.

Assume you know the basic types of questions. Do you know interrogative words likeWho, why, when, whatEUAs.

Suppose you are familiar with the concept of inversion.

As a precaution, remember:reversalThis happens when the word order in a sentence changes. It is often used to ask questions in English. In Russian, this way of formulating questions is not typical.

You may have come across sentences that end init is not? - then you know another type of question - disjunctive.

And you learned a lot that the auxiliary verbI'm doingthis is needed when you need to ask a question in the single tense (only for action verbs, of course).

Probably, after everything you've learned, you feel that asking questions in English is not easy. By the way, why not use the accent, without auxiliary verbs and conjugations? Here's how in Russian:

Have you eaten today.
have you eaten today

It is enough to put a question mark in the letter, and in the spoken word, raise a note next to the word “ate”.

Think how monstrous this is compared to the “Did you eat today?” plan. That is, an ignoramus will translate the phrase “Did you eat today?”.

If you are angry with English grammarians and feel offended, relax. Exhale. There are types of questions that don't require us to turn our brains inside out. Thatthematic question, englishquestion without problems. Simply align the interrogative word, the verb and, if present, the object:

Enjoy the ease with which, word for word, these phrases are translated. No need to rearrange, calculate, just translate in the right order:

Who ate the cookies?

What helps you to focus?

Who built the Berlin Wall?

It would be nice if all the questions were that simple. But such a structure only becomes possible when the answer to the question is the subject.Questions on a given topic in English, examplesyou see in the table above, use interrogative words.can be wordswho, what, how much(who, what, how much). The main thing is that these words ask a question on a certain topic.

But if there are question words, are they just special questions?

Let's compare two sentences where the question is asked withCom:

How many cookies are in the box? (How many cookies are in the box?)

How many cookies did you eat? (How many cookies did you eat?)

In the second sentence, much is structured differently from the first, despite the same principle.

First, there is the same useful verbI'm doing. It is in Past Simple form:He did.

So it looks differentjam- semantic verb. This is in the infinitive and not in the past because the auxiliary verb has already changed.I'm doing.

The word order also changes.He didplaced before the subject.

Overall, there are many changes to the proposal. Conclusion: This question is of this typespecificquestions.

There is no inversion in the first sentence, nor auxiliary verbs, as the question is about the subject.

And what is thishim? It is no less the person or thing that performs the action. It's not about the person, of course, but the part of speech that identifies him.

Heis the hero of the sentence, its hero.

What can a hero do? Yes, anything, like singing, eating, laughing:

Katya sings a song. (Katya sings a song).

Vanya is having breakfast. (Vanya is having breakfast.)

Bobby makes fun of me at school. (Bobby laughs at me at school.)

And the hero just mightAND, then the verb will be usedto be:

Question on the topic in English: examples

Who eats mosquitoes?
Who eats mosquitoes?

What makes me happy?
What makes me happy?

What makes a frog happy?
What makes a frog happy?

Answers to example questions will start with the subject, but otherwise the sentence structure will not change:

The frog eats mosquitoes.
The frog eats mosquitoes.

Ice cream makes me happy.
Ice cream makes me happy.

Mosquitoes make the frog happy.
Mosquitoes make the frog happy.

Just do not forget that in the answer the verb must change depending on the number of the subject:

Corobihappy frog- Here's the verbI accept, I acceptno singular?

MosquitosI accept, I accepthappy frog- and youI accept, I acceptalready in the plural, because there are a lot of mosquitoes, that is, mosquitoes.

By the way, how to know what number to put the verb in the question, if we don't know how many actors - many or one?

The default is a single number. This is not difficult to understand, as the same is observed in Russian.

For example, you look in the fridge at work and find that the sandwiches you've been dreaming about all morning are gone (for the hundredth time). You think that no one will answer you, but with mixed feelings you say:

Who keeps stealing my sandwiches?

Verbto stealyou use in the singular -stealsalthough it is likely that many of your employees ate sandwiches.

You do not speak:

who constantlyto stealmy sandwiches

The burning question in English would be:

who constantlystealsmy sandwiches

the verb tooto stealtook the singular and third-person form by adding the suffix -s:steals.

You can also remember this principle in this way: imagine the word “someone” in place of the subject - someone. smallsomebodyin English it is always singular, so the verb form will correspond to it.

SomebodyANDAt home. (Someone in the house).
WHEREANDAt home? (Who's in the house?)

Attention, wrong!

Sometimes someone wants to wrap up a grammatically complicated sentence to show what we learned so long ago in different educational institutions. Don't be tempted! Needless to say:

WHEREI stolemy food?

Do you remember that verbI'm doingno need to ask this kind of question?

The exception is when it is used to increase clarity. Approximately like our "same" particle:

“I didn't steal your sandwiches
(I didn't steal your sandwiches)

- But who?He didsteal them then?
(But then who stole them?)

How to ask this question at different times?

The tense can be anything, but the principle is the same: the word order remains simple.

Here is a short excerpt from the diary of a man who is kept awake by noisy neighbors. Read it and try asking questions about it at different times.

this diaryEnglish, thematic questionsAlso written in English.

Dear Diary,
It's 11 pm. Our neighbors are poking and poking. Yesterday, at 5:00, another boy from next door organized a party. Upstairs neighbor drilled in the exact same spot for 3 weeks. One day I will call the police.

Dear Diary!
It's already 11 pm. Our neighbors poke and poke. Yesterday, at five in the morning, another boy from the apartment next door was at a party. Upstairs neighbor drilled a site for three weeks. One day I will call the police.

Here are the questions we have:

Question about the subject in the Present Continuous

Who punches and beats?
Who drills and hammers?

Simple past

Who was at the 5am party last night?
Who was partying at five in the morning yesterday?

The present perfect continuous

Who pierced in the exact same place for 3 weeks?
Who's been drilling in the same spot for three weeks?

The future tense is simple

Who will call the police?
Who will call the police?

Who, who, who and who

When reading in English or listening to speech in English, it is very important not to confuse who is the object of the action and who is the subject. Otherwise, you might draw the wrong conclusions.

Heit is he (what) who performs the action. The part of speech is the subject.

Item- he or she, on whom (what) the action is performed. Part of speech is a complement.

A word to ask questionswho, for what, who, for what, for what, i.e. questions in all cases except the denominator and will be summed.

The official rule is that if the question is related to the topic, use that word.WHERE.

Also, there is a question wordTo whom(to whom).

Who framed Roger Rabbit?
WHERERoger Bunny Frame?

But:

Who did Roger Rabbit frame?
To whomRoger Bunny Frame?

In practiceTo whomit is most common in the written word, and in speech its use is quite acceptableWHEREfor additional questions:Who you love? (Who you love?)

How to answer questions about the topic?

Directly (in direct word order) the question must be answered immediately. That is, the subject first, then the verb, and finally the object.

Who killed Sam? (Who killed Sam?)
Mike killed Sam. (Mike killed Sam).

You can replace the semantic verb withfez,be short.

“Mike did. (Microphone).

In sentences containing a verbto be, the answer will also beto bein the proper format:

Who fixes the computer? (Who fixes the computer?)
We know my husband yes. (My husband's friend does this.)

FOR:

- My husband's friend is. (Friend of my husband).

There is often a very simple option when, in response to a question about the topic, the speaker simply names the topic without the verb:

- Who's in the group?
- (Who's in the group?)

- Children from all over the world. (Children from all over the world).

to make me feel betterthematic questions, you can incorporate the following phrases that English speakers often hear in their daily lives:

1) Who cares?

Rhetorical question. Literally -who cares(hence) the semantic translation is “who cares”, “and what”. With a slight touch of desperation and/or indifference, as the answer is usually “nobody” (nobody cares).

"If you don't practice, you won't pass the exam."

- Who cares?(-If you don't study, you won't pass the exam.
-And?)

2) Who told you (this)?

"Who (it) told you?"

Another useful expression, useful for disputing what was said.

Who told you that I don't love you?
(Who told you that I don't love you?)

3) Who's there?

Ofcurrent question in the simple presenthe asked, "who's there?"

- Knock Knock! (Knock Knock!)
- Who's there? (Who's there?).

4) What happened?

A basic phrase that can be easily translated as "what happened?".

- What happened?
“Nothing, just a scratch.

(-What happened?
-Nothing but a scratch).

Make it easy for you to askquestion on the topic in English, exercisesnecessary, despite the simplicity of the subject. We invite you now for a little fun exercise!

Mafia leader performer

thirty, USA. The crime scene is being determined. The reason for the meeting was a series of brutal murders in the mafia environment:

Mike killed Sam
Mike and Henry
Lucky matou Mike
Frank matou Lucky

The mob boss was Italian and still doesn't speak English well. After all, he is now an adult and has forgotten who killed whom. Help him learn the following:

Who killed Sam?
Who killed Henry?
Who killed Mike?
Who killed Lucky?

And generally speaking,

Who remained alive?

And here are the questions. Did you do the same?

Who killed Sam?
Who killed Henry?
Who killed Mike?
Who killed Lucky?

Who else is alive?

* No gangsters were injured during this drill.

FAQs