Subject and Object Questions

Question words Who What What kind of Which Whose How many Why When How How far How long How often

Subject questions Who is teaching you? What caused the problem? What kind of people live here? Which book sold the most? Whose book won the prize? How many pupils came to the lesson?

Object questions Who do you know here? (Whom is very formal.) What film did you see? What kind of TV programmes do you watch? Which picture do you like? Whose book did you borrow? How many people did you see? Why did you get up so late? When did you go to England? How do I get to your house? How far is the college from here? How long does it take to get there? How often do you go swimming?

Questions about the subject When we ask questions about the subject of a sentence, the word order in the question and the answer is the same: Ben designed this house. Who designed this house? Questions about the object Questions about the object need an auxiliary verb (do, have, is, etc.) before the subject: Wren designed this cathedral. What did Wren design? Position of prepositions Note the change in the position of a preposition in questions about the object: I gave the book to John. Who did you give the book to? or To whom did you give the book? (= formal) She sent the letter from India. Where did she send the letter from? or From where did she send the letter? (- formal) What or which? We use what when the choice is open. We use which when there is a limited choice: What colour do you like? (= open choice) Which colour do you prefer, red or blue? (= limited choice) What countries have you visited? (= open choice) Which countries in South America have you visited? (= limited choice)

Ask a question about the information brackets in each of the following sentences using who, what, how, which or another question word:

1. We live (in the old town.) . 2. I gave the book to (Valerie.) . 3. (Michael) lent me his car. . 4. I got married (20 years ago.) 5. He plays (basketball) best. . 6. (A madman) murdered the President. 7. I go to the cinema at least (once a week.) 8. The journey takes (about six hours) from here.
Underline the correct questions using the following prompts. You should ask a question about the word underlined: 1. I bought a newspaper this morning. What bought you this morning? What did you buy this morning? What you did buy this morning? 2. Something odd happened during the storm last night. What happened during the storm last night? What did happen during the storm last night? 3. One of the students didn't do the final exam. Who didn't the final exam do? Who didn't do the final exam? 4. I wrote a romantic letter to one of the teachers. Who did you write a romantic letter to? Who wrote you a romantic letter? 5. Something disturbed me when I was working. What did you disturb when you were working? What disturbed you when you were working? What did disturb you when you were working? 6. I dreamt about a strange animal last night. What did you dream about last night? What dreamed about you last night? 7. Somebody rang me at 3 a.m. last week! Who did you ring at 3 a.m. last week? Who you rang at 3 a.m. last week? Who rang you at 3 a.m. last week? 8. Someone gave me a watch for my birthday. Who gave you a watch for your birthday? Who did give you a watch for your birthday?