Level: beginner
Yes/No questions
Yes/No questions are questions which we answer with Yes or No. Look at these statements:
They are working hard.
They will be working hard.
They had worked hard.
They have been working hard.
They might have been working hard.
We make Yes/No questions by putting the first part of the verb in front of the subject:
Are they working hard?
Will they be working hard?
Had they worked hard?
Have they been working hard?
Might they have been working hard?
- Yes/No questions 1
- ReorderingHorizontal_MTYxNjY=
- Yes/No questions 2
- GapFillTyping_MTYxNjk=
Negatives
We make negatives by putting not after the first part of the verb:
They are not working hard.
They will not be working hard.
They had not worked hard.
They have not been working hard.
They might not have been working hard.
In spoken English, we often reduce not to n’t:
They aren't working hard.
They won't be working hard.
They hadn't been working hard.
They haven't been working hard.
They mightn't have been working hard.
- Negatives 1
- Negatives 2
Present simple and past simple questions and negatives
For all verbs except be and have, we use do/does or did to make Yes/No questions in the present simple and past simple:
| They work hard. | > | Do they work hard? |
| He works hard. | > | Does he work hard? |
| They worked hard. | > | Did they work hard? |
For all verbs except be and have, we use do/does + not or did + not to make negatives in the present simple and past simple:
| They work hard. | > | They do not (don't) work hard. |
| He works hard. | > | He does not (doesn't) work hard. |
| They worked hard. | > | They did not (didn't) work hard. |
Here are the question forms and negative forms for be in the present simple and past simple:
| Positives | Questions | Negatives |
|---|---|---|
| I am (I'm) | Am I? | I am not (I'm not) |
| He is (he's) | Is he? | He is not (He's not/He isn't) |
| She is (she's) | Is she? | She is not (She's not/She isn't) |
| It is (it's) | Is it? | It is not (It's not/It isn't) |
| You are (you're) | Are you? | You are not (You're not/You aren't) |
| They are (they're) | Are they? | They are not (They're not/They aren't) |
| Positives | Questions | Negatives |
|---|---|---|
| I was | Was I? | I was not (I wasn't) |
| He was | Was he? | He was not (He wasn't) |
| She was | Was she? | She was not (She wasn't) |
| It was | Was it? | It was not (It wasn't) |
| You were | Were you? | You were not (You weren't) |
| They were | Were they? | They were not (They weren't) |
We make questions and negatives with have in two ways. Usually we use do/does or did:
Do you have plenty of time?
Does she have enough money?
Did they have any useful advice?
I don't have much time.
She doesn't have any money.
They didn't have any advice to offer.
but we can also make questions by putting have/has or had in front of the subject:
Have you plenty of time?
Has she enough money?
Had they any useful advice?
and make negatives by putting not or n't after have/has or had:
I haven't much time.
She hasn't any money.
He hadn't any advice to offer.
- Present simple and past simple questions and negatives 1
- Present simple and past simple questions and negatives 2
Wh-questions
Wh-questions are questions which start with a word like what, when, where, which, who, whose, why and how.
- Question words
Questions with when, where, why
We form wh-questions with these words by putting the question word in front of a Yes/No question:
| They are working in a shop. | > | Where are they working? |
| They have been working hard for their exams. | > | Why have they been working hard? |
| They arrived at six. | > | When did they arrive? |
Questions with who, what, which
When we ask who, what and which about the object of the verb, we put the question word in front of a Yes/No question:
| He is seeing Joe tomorrow. | > | Who is he seeing tomorrow? |
| I want a computer for my birthday. | > | What do you want for your birthday? |
| I'd prefer some tea. | > | Which would you prefer, tea or coffee? |
- Wh-questions 1
When we ask who, what and which about the subject of the verb, the question word takes the place of the subject:
| Barbara gave me the chocolates. | > | Who gave you the chocolates? |
| Something funny happened. | > | What happened? |
| The dog frightened the children. | > | Which dog frightened the children? |
We sometimes use what or which with a noun:
What subjects did you study at school?
Which English newspaper started in 1986?
What subjects does everyone have to study?
Which newspaper do you prefer, The Times or the Guardian?
- Wh-questions 2
Questions with how
We use how for many different questions:
How are you?
How do you make questions in English?
How long have you lived here?
How often do you go to the cinema?
How much is this dress?
How old are you?
How many people came to the meeting?
- Questions with how 1
- Questions with how 2
Questions with verbs and prepositions
When we have a question with a verb and a preposition, the preposition usually comes at the end of the question:
| I gave the money to my brother. | > | Who did you give the money to? |
| She comes from Madrid. | > | Where does she come from? |
| They were waiting for an hour. | > | How long were they waiting for? |
- Questions with verbs and prepositions 1
- Questions with verbs and prepositions 2
Level: intermediate
Other ways of asking questions
We sometimes use phrases like these in front of a statement to ask questions:
Do you know …?
I wonder …
Can you tell me …?
For Yes/No questions, we use the phrases with if:
| This is the right house. | > | Do you know if this is the right house? |
| Everyone will agree. | > | I wonder if everyone will agree. |
| Mr Brown lives here. | > | Can you tell me if Mr Brown lives here? |
For wh-questions, we use the phrases with a question word:
Do you know who lives here?
I wonder how much this dress is.
Can you tell me where she comes from?
We often use do you think …? after question words:
How much do you think this dress is?
Where do you think she comes from?
Who do you think lives here?
- Indirect questions 1
- Indirect questions 2
Negatives with the to-infinitive
When we make a negative with the to-infinitive, we put not in front of the to-infinitive:
He told us not to make so much noise.
We were asked not to park in front of the house.
Hello LubNko525,
'...make further advances' is fine here and does not change the meaning.
'the bedrock of a healthy relationship' is fine.
You can say '...have a query...' or '...have any queries...'. The meaning is the same.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
The auxiliary do adds emphasis, so you would only use it with an adverb like rarely if someone had questioned whether rarely was really true. For example:
As is normal, adverbs come before the main verb and after the auxiliary.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Sunyoung1005,
Yes, both the versions you suggested are grammatically correct. The meaning is the same, but the versions with any and no are more emphatic.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lakshmi94216,
Yes! Both of your rephrasings are fine, and the meaning is the same. But, the versions with no are more emphatic than the versions with not.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello MarciaBT,
Both alternatives are possible.
It's unusual to use haven't as the negative form of have. Normally we use don't have or haven't got; have is not normally used with a contraction when it is the main verb.
The meaning of the forms is the same in each, though 'no right' is perhaps more emphatic/stronger than the other.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kashvi.la27,
In general, the two first sentences mean the same thing. Sentence 1b is what I would say; it's not that 1a is wrong, though.
All of the variants you ask about in 2 are possible, though it would be strange to say 'an ambition' without specifying it more afterwards -- for example, something like 'an ambition to be doctor'. If I were choosing one of these sentences, I would use the first one.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kashvi.la27,
Yes, that sounds right to me.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Munir1405,
The answer to your first question is 'yes'. All of the questions you wrote are correctly formed.
The answer to your second question is also 'yes'. 'I don't know what to do' or 'She doesn't know what I know' are both correctly formed and so are the three other examples in brackets. In the last sentence, I'd suggest 'How you play football' instead of what you wrote.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Munir1405,
That's a difficult question to answer, really. I can say that they are less common than affirmative wh-questions, but I'm afraid it's difficult to say much more than that.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Syed Faisal Khalil,
In terms of standard use, both who and whom are possible in these sentences. Whom sounds rather more formal and possible old-fashioned, while who sounds more contemporary and a little less formal. Obviously, the context and intended style is key here.
There is some discussion amongst grammarians about whether a subject or object pronoun is required in these kinds of sentences. In my view, an object pronoun is the better option. For example, if we use the same structure in an affirmative sentence (rather than a question) thenwe use an object pronoun (me) rather a subject pronoun (I):
Since we can use who as an object pronoun as well as a subject pronoun in most contexts, I would tend towards who rather than whom unless my aim was for an archaic style.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Riyaz Shiekh,
This is an example of a participle clause. Present participles are verb forms created with -ing, so the present participle of the verb finish is finishing. When we add perfect aspect we have what is sometimes called a perfect participle: having finished.
Participle clauses have various uses. You can read about them on this page:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/participle-clauses
In your example, the participle clause gives us information about what the person did before he went to the market, and suggests that the two actions were connected in some way.
Please post your questions on one page only rather than on multiple pages. We answer questions as soon as we can, and if the same question is posted more than once we have to delete the duplicates first, which only means that it takes longer for us to answer the question.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello muslimbadshah,
Question word order is used in both clauses so the first sentence in each pair is correct. It is not correct to change the word order after or in that way, and the tenses/verb forms used do not change this.
Your second examples are a little different because you are omitting the question itself in the second clause to avoid repetition. If we put it in then the structure becomes clear:
I've corrected the second example as it was not grammatical for other reasons.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello muslimbadshah,
You need to use question word order in both clauses; the use of or does not change this. Thus, the first version of each pair of sentences is correct.
In your second set of examples you may be confused because there are words omitted in the second clause. The full sentences are as follows:
Note the changes in the second example. Your version was not grammatical.
As you can see, question word order is required. The conjunction or does not change this.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sharmila_M,
No, the sentence is not correct. You need to use don't to make the negative:
Note that How come is very informal. It means the same as How did it happen that... or Why...
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello rizzu8888,
This really depends on the context.
The sentence I am done means the same as I have finished.
I hve done does not look like a complete sentence. You could say I have done it, which has a similar meaning to I have finished, but it would depend on the context. It's hard to be sure with the sentence in isolation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Vitub
Yes, that question is correct and in this context, no article is needed. When speaking about a unique job position (i.e. where there is only one), 'the' is not usually used before the complement if we are speaking about the person gaining the position. I know that must seem like a very odd rule, but it is indeed the way native speakers use the language!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello verob,
Negation of lexical verbs without the auxiliary do is an archaic feature. It has largely disappeared from modern English but still remains in certain phrases, and in humorous or self-consciously archaic usage. Your example is one of these, but there are others:
I haven't much time.
We haven't the money for this.
I think not.
I believe not.
Want not, waste not.
You can read about the use of some of these forms here:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/so-and-not-with-expect-hope-think-etc
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Parisa2,
Who is... would be the subject question:
Q: Who is talking to their teacher?
A: The students.
Who are... would be the object question:
Q: Who are the students talking to?
A: Their teacher.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
It is correct, grammatically speaking, but is a rather strange formulation. I doubt that he won't... can be more simply expressed as I expect that he will..., and English generally tries to avoid formulations that are harder to understand or require some deciphering.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ataur Rahman
Yes, that is grammatically correct.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello davidinh
I'm not sure this is really a question in the sense you are thinking here. The word 'question' has different meanings and the one used here is more 'problem' or 'matter'. The idea is these people thought that he could do it, but didn't know whether it was worth it for him to do it.
Does that make sense?
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Marua,
Yes, all of your answers are correct and appropriate. Good work!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Hamdy Ali,
Yes.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team