Question words

Avoiding repetition

1. Question words

Question words (QW) are those words used to formulate and introduce interrogative sentences where the answer is not a yes or a no, but an open one.

2. How are question words used?

The question words are placed at the beginning of the sentence and follow these structures:

When the main verb is the verb to be:

When the main verb is not the verb to be:

Both the verb to be in the first case and the auxiliary verb in the second case will correspond to the verb tense being used (to be: am, is, was...) (auxiliary: do, did, will...).

3. Different question words 

• WHO?
  To ask for information about a person's identity.
  

  

  Who is that boy?

  

  Who is the youngest?
• WHAT?
  To ask for information about the nature or identity of a thing or object
  

  

  What does this mean?

  

  What is the meaning of your name?

  What can be combined with a noun to ask certain questions.

  Question word	Noun	Examples
  WHAT	colour	What colour are her eyes?
  	size	What size are you?
  	kind (of)	What kind of films do you usually watch?
  	day	What day is it tomorrow?
  	time	What time do you go to school?

  What is also used with like and look like to ask for a description of a person, a place or an object.

  - When we want to ask about someone's physical appearance:

  What + auxiliary verb + subject + look like?

  

  - What does your sister look like?

  

  - She is tall, blonde and has blue eyes.

  - When we want to ask about a person's character:

  What + to be + subject + like?

  

  - What is your mother like?

  

  - She is funny but strict.

  - When we want to describe places, objects, the weather:

  What + to be + subject + like?

  

  - What was the weather like yesterday?

  

  - It was sunny but windy.
• WHEN?

  To ask at what time or time period an event takes place.

  

  When do I start the holidays?

  

  When do you finish classes?
• WHERE?

  To ask in which place the action happens.

  

  Where is your car?

  

  Where is the bus station?
• HOW? 

  To ask in what way an action is carried out. It is also used to find out about people and animals' mood or health and also as a way to greet people.

  

  How do you cook sushi?

  

  How are you?

  How can also be used together with an adverb or an adjective to ask for the degree of a quality.

  Question word	Noun	Examples
  HOW	tall	How tall is your son?
  	big	How big is a plane?
  	fast	How fast can you run?
  	high	How high is Mount Everest?
  	deep	How deep is the river?
  	heavy	How heavy is this box?
  	far	How far is the nearest village?
  	old	How old is your dog?

• WHY?

  To ask for information about the cause or reason for something.

  

  Why are you so happy?

  

  Why can't we swim?

  The answer to why is mainly introduced by the word because.

  - Why can you speak German?

  - Because I'm from Germany.
• WHOSE?

  To know which person a thing belongs to.

  

  Whose is that pencil?

  

  Whose are the trousers?
• WHICH?

  To ask for a specific choice when there is a limited number of possibilities.

  

  Which season is your favourite?

  

  Which of these actors do you prefer?

  Remember that in English, unlike in other languages, only one question mark and one exclamation mark is used, and it's placed at the end of the sentence.

  Whose is that pencil?

  ¿Whose is that pencil?

  Be careful!

  ¡Be careful!

Remember!