21/12/2014

SubjectandObjectQuestions| questiongrammar

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GrammarCorner
SubjectandObjectQuestions:Whometyou?/Whodidyoumeet?ByProfessorMayfair

HelloProfessor.Whendowesaywhometyou?andwhodidyoumeet??(Marine,France).
HelloMarineandthanksforthatverycommonquestionwegetfromstudentsandIlltrymybesttoanswerit.Takea
lookatthefollowingsentence.Whatisthesubjectandobjectofthesentence?

Soc ia lpr ogr a m m e

ImetJavier

Gr a m m a r c o r n e r

Remember, every sentence has a subject and verb and some verbs have objects. The subject of the sentence is I
andtheobjectisJavier.Soifwewanttoknowwhomet Javier (who did the action), we ask the question Who
met Javier? The whquestion word is followed by the verb and then the object. This is called a subject question.
ClearlytheanswerisImetJavier.
However,ifwewanttoknowabouttheobjectJavier,weaskthequestionusingtheauxiliaryverbdointhis case
did followed by the subject you and the infinitive form of the verb meet at the end. So whats the question?
Yes,Whodidyoumeet?

M a yf a ir ne w s

Dow nloa ds

About London

Lookatthenextexample:
Sheatetheapple
Here the subject question is Who ate the apple? and the object question is What did she eat? Obviously the
objectisathing,soweuseadifferentwhquestionword,inthis case what. We can use other whwords such as
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21/12/2014

SubjectandObjectQuestions| questiongrammar

which,where,when,howmanyandevenwhy.Forexample:
Isawhimbecausehecamefirst.
Ifyouwanttowhy,youcanaskthequestion,Whydidyouseehim?
Inshort,neverusetheauxiliaryverbdowithasubjectquestion.
Exercise:
Make subject and object questions and other predicate questions using do of the following sentences. Use
appropriatequestionwords(thefirstonehasbeendoneforyou):
E.g.Whosawherfriend?/WhodidMarinesee?/Whendidsheseeherfriend?
1.

Marinesawherfriendyesterday.

2.

Ibrokethewindow.

3.

Themansawthemurder.

4.

Iwenthome.

5.

Hedidntcomebecausehewasill.

6.

Saradestroyedthecrucialevidenceafewweeksago.

7.

Vincentdiscussedthematterwiththedirectoroverdinnerthemorningafter.

8.

Itdidntgowell.

9.

Hechosetheblueoneovertheblackoneandstillwasntsatisfied.

10.

Heboughther5differentdressesfortheengagementpartyovertheweekendandshelovedthemallexcept
thefrillyonebecauseitwastoolong.(6questions!)

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SubjectandObjectQuestions| questiongrammar
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