5 types of questions in English language sometimes incomprehensible to pupils, students and all those who study English. Therefore, all types of interrogative sentences in English are considered here.
1. General Questions

The general question in English is the simplest. This is a question that provides either "yes" or "no" as an answer. That is a question for general information. Therefore, sometimes this question is called "yes / no question".

It is formed by moving an auxiliary verb or modal verb to the first position in a sentence. Full rule:

Auxiliary+ subject + semantic verb + object

The auxiliary verb depends on what tense you want to ask:

Past Simple - Did
present simple— Do/Does
Future Simple - Shall / Will
Past Continuous - Was / Were
Present Continuous - Am / Is / Are
Future Continuous - Shall / Will
Past Perfect-Had
Present Perfect - Have/Has
Future Perfect - Shall / Will + after the subject comes the auxiliary verb have
Past Perfect Continuous- Had + after the subject comes the auxiliary verb has been
Present Perfect Continuous - Have / Has + after the subject comes the auxiliary verb has been
Future Perfect Continuous - Shall / Will + after the subject comes auxiliary have verbs been
future in the Past— would

Answers to a general question can be either short (Yes / No + subject and auxiliary or modal verb) or complete. The time remains unchanged. examples:

Have you been to London? - Yes, I have (Yes, I have been to London). - Have you been to London? Yes (I was in London).

Did you buy this car? - Yes, I did (Yes, I bought this car). — Did you buy this car? — Yes (I bought this car).

Do they play football? - No, they do not (No, they do not play football). - They play football? No (they don't play football).

Could you do that? - No, I could not (No, I could not do that). - Could you do it? — No (no, I can do it).

2. Special Questions

A special question is a question to get additional information. This question always begins with an interrogative word (except for the interrogative words What and Who - they are used in questions to the subject).
The word order in special questions is the same as in general questions, with one exception: the auxiliary verb is preceded by an interrogative word. Examples:

What did you visit in Kyiv last time? — What are you in recent times visited in Kyiv?

Where do they go? — Where are they going?

How did you manage to get tickets? How did you manage to get tickets?

3. Question to the subject (Who ...? What ...?)

If there is a need to put a question to the subject, then use the interrogative words Who? and What?. The word order in the question is slightly changed from the previous two, since the subject itself is not used in relation to the subject. That is, the formula will be as follows:

Who / What + semantic verb + object

Who is he? - Who is he?

What is that? - What is it?

4. Alternative questions ( Alternative Question s)

An alternative question involves two or more choices through the use of the word or. The word order in such a question is the same as in the general question.

Does she like coffee or tea? Does she like coffee or tea?

Did he buy motorbike or bicycle? Did he buy a motorcycle or a bicycle?

5. Questions with punctuation marks (Disjunctive Questions)

The dividing question is called so because it is divided into two parts by means of a coma. In the first part of the question there is a statement, and in the second - a question to this statement. The purpose of the disjunctive question is to test the veracity of the statement. These questions are often used in colloquial speech when the interlocutor "inadvertently" tries to find out some information based on the available facts.

Part 1 - part of the dividing question - this is a typical affirmative sentence with a typical word order in it: subject - verb - application.

Part 2 is an auxiliary verb in the tense indicated in part 1 and the subject. If we build a question from a statement, then there will be objections in part 2. If we build a question from negation, then there will be an affirmation.

Example:

You are playing tennis not you? You play tennis, don't you?

He goes to the gym, does not he? He goes to the gym, doesn't he?

Bill is not famous person, is he? Bill is not a known person, is he?

They have not been to Paris, have they? They haven't been to Paris, have they?

Hello my dear readers.

Russian-speaking people rarely ask themselves the question of terminology. We don't like these complex words and that's it. But those who have to learn English face this much more often. An example of how we can know a rule, but not know its name, is the types of questions in English.

There is hardly a student who can easily name all the variations with examples. Well, let's fix it. Today we are waiting for an interesting theory with explanations, tables and examples, followed by an equally interesting practice.

General

The general question is the most common one. That's why it's common, as they say. The answer to it will always be the words "yes" or "no". Of course, later the answer can be expanded and supplemented, but confirmation or denial is the basis.

I have already written about this topic in as much detail as possible in a separate one. However, let's take a look at some examples.

Are you going to the cinema tonight? - Are you going to the cinema today?

Yes, I am. - Yes.

And one more example.

Are they our new neighbors? - Are these our new neighbors?

Special

A special question always begins with a certain question word. Its main goal is to get more detailed information. The most common question words in speech are:

• whom- Whom
• When- When
• Whose- Whose
• Which- Which
• Where- Where
• why- Why
• How- How
• And others (about them)

A special question is formed according to a simple structure:

Interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb-predicate + object.

When did the bell ring? - When did the bell ring?

Where did they go? - Where did they go?

Interestingly, this type is divided into two groups:

1. Questions for the whole offer
2. Questions to the subject.

You can find out more about the latter in. But we will talk about the first group in great detail here. Their main difference is word order. Let's find out with examples.

Who goes to the theater tomorrow? - Who is going to the theater tomorrow? This is a question for the subject.

When did you break the plate? - When did you break the plate? This is a question for the entire proposal.

The difference lies directly in the word order. If in the first sentence the order remains direct, then in the second there is an inversion: the auxiliary verb is written immediately, and then the pronoun.

To make it clearer, let's rephrase the second sentence.

Who broke the plate? - Who broke the plate?

Dividing

Schoolchildren most often know the dividing question as "tail". It is usually taught somewhere in the 6th grade and is perhaps the favorite topic of any student. Its main task is to test any assumption, express doubt or just confirm your thought.

It consists of two parts: the affirmative part and the question, that is, the tail. We can see its structure right away with an example.

She lives in a big city, doesn't she? - She lives in big city, is not it?

She was working as a steward, wasn't she? She worked as a flight attendant, didn't she?

Note that if our sentence is affirmative, then the tail will be negative. Let's look at the opposite situation with other examples.

She doesn't trust him, does she? She doesn't trust him, does she?

He hasn't returned yet, has he? He hasn't returned yet, has he?

Probably, you immediately had a doubt: how to answer such a thing? Everything is simple here. If your proposal is affirmative, but we say “yes” for consent, “no” for disagreement.

She will be home at five, won't she? She will be home at five, right?

Yes, she will. - Yes, it will.

No, she won't. - No, it will not.

But if your initial proposal is negative, then you express agreement with the word “no”, disagreement with the word “yes”. Let's quickly disassemble the example, until we get completely confused.

She doesn't have any objections, does she? She doesn't have any objections, does she?

No, she doesn't. - Yes, no.

Yes, she does. - No, there is.

Alternative

This type of question gives a choice: between two objects or actions. It is not used very often, but it is still necessary to know it.

The main component here is the “or” particle - or. Otherwise, the parts of this question are very similar to the general one. Let's get a look.

Are you writing an essay or are you writing a report? - Do you write an essay or do you write a report?

Is she drawing or is she sewing? - Does she paint or does she knit?

Okay, I won't torture you. In fact, the second part can be set not completely, but only an alternative can be left.

Are you writing an essay or a report?

Answers to such questions are given in full. There is no "yes" or "no" here.

Is she drawing or sewing?

She is drawing a picture. - She is painting a picture.

Useful repetition

To conveniently summarize everything we have learned today, I have a cool table for you.

General
Is she going to marry him?- Is she going to marry him? Does Lucy believe it? Does Lucy believe this? Did they have practice at school? Did they have practice at school? Have you finished the project?— Did you finish the project?
Special
To the whole offer	To the subject
When does the plane take off? - What time does the plane take off? Why did Sam leave? Why did Sam leave? How will you cope with it?— How will you deal with it?	Who damaged that?- Who messed it up? What brought him here?-What brings him here? Who controls it?- Who controls this?
Dividing
They are leaving tomorrow morning, aren't they?- They're leaving tomorrow morning, aren't they? They weren't honest, were they? They weren't honest, were they? Maya knew that, didn't she? Maya knew about it, didn't she?

Here you can take a lesson on the topic: Question and its varieties in English. Different types of Questions in English.

There are three types of basic sentences in English. These are affirmative, also called narrative, negative and interrogative. In this tutorial, we'll take a closer look at interrogative sentence and its varieties.

English questions are quite different from Russian ones, especially in the order of words in a sentence. Majority English questions formed with the help of inversion (permutation of words) and the use of auxiliary verbs.

In total, there are 5 types of questions in English (general, special, alternative, disjunctive, to the subject), and each of them has its own characteristics. We will dwell on each of them in detail:

1. General question(General Question) - the most common and important type questions in English. Knowing the rules for composing a general question, you can easily create all the rest.

Word order in general question next:

Auxiliary verb (Auxiliary verb) - Subject (Subject) - Predicate (Predicate) - Supplement (Object) - Circumstance ( adverbial modifier)? For example:

Do you have a cup of coffee every morning? - Do you drink a cup of coffee every morning?

The main members of interrogative sentences are auxiliary verb, subject and predicate, because their presence is mandatory. And the remaining members of the proposal may be omitted from the proposal. For example:

Does he swim? - He is swimming?
Do you like ice cream? - Do you like ice cream?

If the proposal uses modal verb(everything except have to and need to) or the verb to be, then the help of an additional auxiliary verb is not required, since these verbs themselves become supportive and placed in front of the subject. The auxiliary verb and subject then become obligatory members of the sentence, and the rest may be omitted depending on the context. Let's look at examples:

Are you a manager? - Are you a manager?
Can you sing well? - Can you sing well?
May I come in? - May I come in?
Must he sign his name here? - Should he sign here?
Would you like another piece of cake? - Would you like another piece of cake?

The general question can also be negative. For example:

Don "t you like this film? - Don't you like this film?
Isn "t she adorable? - Isn't she adorable?
Can "t we meet another day? - Could we meet another day?

We considered many questions in the present simple tense, but how to ask questions about past actions or future? Knowing the order of words in a general question, this will not be difficult. Questions in the past and future tense differ from questions in the present only in auxiliary verbs. The past tense auxiliary is did, and the future is will. did verbs and will do not change in persons and numbers. Let's look at a few examples:

Do you like skating? - Do you like skating?
Did you like skating? - Did you like skating?
Will you like skating? - Do you like skating?

Does he ask you many questions? Does he ask you a lot of questions?
Did he ask you many questions? Did he ask you a lot of questions?
Will he ask you many questions? Will he ask you a lot of questions?

All general questions require short answers: Yes or no. Short answers in English directly dependent on the auxiliary verb used in the question. Let's look at examples:

Does she get on your nerves? -Yes, she does. -No, she doesn't. - Does she get on your nerves? - Yes. - No.
Did you get a good mark for this exam? -Yes, I did. -No, I didn't. - You got good mark for this exam? -Yes. -Not.
Are you Jared's sister? -Yes, I am. -No, I'm not. Are you Jared's sister? -Yes. -Not.
Is he the oldest child in the family? -Yes, he is. -No, he isn't. - Is he the oldest child in the family? -Yes. -No.
Can you call me later? -Yes, I can. -No, I can "t. - Can you call me later? -Yes. -No.
May I come in? -Yes, you may. -No, you may not. - Can I come in? -Yes. -Not.

2. Special question (Special Question) is a question that begins with special question words: who? (who?) what? (what?) where? (where?) when? (when?) how much? (how much?) whose? (whose?), etc. It is also popularly called Wh-question.

Knowing the rules for composing general questions in English, you can easily compose a special question. After all, the basic rule of special questions is to put question word(what, who, why) before the auxiliary verb, and the rest of the question remains the same as in the general question. Let's take an example and compare:

Did you fight with him again? Did you fight him again?
Why did you fight with him again? Why did you fight him again?
Where did you fight with him again? - Where did you fight him again?
When did you fight with him again? When did you fight him again?

Sometimes items for which a special question is asked, out of the general question. For example:

Do you speak French? - Do you speak french?
What languages ​​do you speak? - What languages ​​do you speak?

Does he like watching TV in the evening? Does he like to watch TV in the evening?
What does he like watching in the evening? - What does he like to watch in the evening?
When does he like watching TV? - When does he like to watch TV?

In proposals in modal verbs or with to be, interrogative words are placed again at the beginning, before these verbs. For example:

How can I help you? - How can I help you?
What is your name? - What is your name? / What is your name?
Where are you from? - Where you're from?
Why should I help him? Why should I help him?
Which food is your favourite? - What's your favorite food?

Often in English special questions there are prepositions associated with the main verb. Typically, these prepositions are at the very end of the sentence. For example:

What are you looking for? -What are you looking for?
Who does he take after? - Who does he look like? / Who did he go to?
Who is she talking to? - Who is she talking to?
What are they talking about? - What are they talking about?

3. Alternative question(Alternative Question) - this is a kind of question that invites you to make a choice. In an alternative question, the union or (or) is always present. The peculiarity of this question is that the answer is, as it were, already present in the question, you only need to choose from two given objects, persons, qualities, etc. Let's look at an example:

Do you like apricots or peaches? - Do you like apricots or peaches?
Is he from England or from Wales? - Is he from England or Wales?
Can she sing or dance? - Can she sing or dance?

As can be seen from the examples, the construction of alternative questions differs little from the general ones, except that the union is added or (or) and an optional part to choose from. The additional part is usually shortened and can be expressed in one word or a short phrase. For example:

Is she a lawyer or a judge? - Is she a lawyer or a judge?
Did he go to his place or to his friend's? - Did he go to himself or to a friend?
Will you be in office at 5pm or at home? - Will you be at the office by 5 pm or at home?

An alternative question can be similar to a special one. For example:

What are you going to order: pizza or sushi? - What are you going to order: pizza or sushi?
When are having a holiday: in June or in July? - When will you have a vacation: in June or in July?

4. Separated question(Tag Question) is a type of question that expresses doubt, surprise or confirmation of what has been said. A disjunctive question is formed by adding a short phrase with an auxiliary verb to the usual affirmative sentence, giving the whole sentence a doubt. The Russian equivalent of the tag question is "isn't it?"

In English, in order to correctly compose this short dividing part, you need to carefully study the sentence itself. If the sentence is affirmative, then the dividing part will be negative, and vice versa, if the sentence is negative, then the dividing part will be affirmative. The disjunctive question is formed with the help of auxiliary verb, used in the sentence, and a pronoun that could replace the subject of this sentence. Let's look at an example:

John is a good student, isn't he? - John good student, is not it? (the sentence is affirmative, so the dividing part is negative)

Let's try to make some more dividing questions:

Linda is the most beautiful girl in the class, isn't she? - Linda is the most beautiful girl in the class, isn't she?
Jamie's parents aren't from Spain, are they? - Jamie's parents are not from Spain, are they?
We aren't going to London tomorrow, are we? - We're not going to London tomorrow, are we?
It will be the best summer in their life, won "t (will not) it? - It will be best summer in their lives, right?
He can climb any tree, can "t he? - He can climb any tree, right?

We already know that everything English verbs, with the exception of to be and modal, build questions using auxiliary verbs do, does or did(if we are talking about the past). For example:

You don't like your neighbors, do you? - You don't like your neighbors, do you?
He likes his friend's sister, doesn't he? - He loves his friend's sister, doesn't he?
They found a new babysitter, didn't they? - They found a new babysitter, didn't they?

As can be seen from the examples, all disjunctive questions are asked in order to express doubt, surprise, or find confirmation of what has been said.

5. Question to the subject(Subject Question) is special category questions that do not need to be changed direct word order, those. it remains the same as in a normal declarative sentence. Thus, this is the only type of questions where there is no need for auxiliary verbs and there is no inversion (permutation of the members of the sentence). For example:

Who came to the party? - Who came to the party?
What happened at the end? - What happened in the end?
How many students arrived to the lesson?- How many students came to the lesson?

Questions to the subject often begin with interrogative words. who?, what?, how many/ how much? The meaning of the question to the subject lies in the fact that interrogative pronouns perform in it the role of the subject. For example:

Who is taliking to you? - Who is talking to you? (direct word order in a sentence: Subject - Predicate - Object)

Thus, we got acquainted with all kinds of English questions and considered each of them separately. From the lesson we can conclude that the most important thing is to learn how to compose ordinary narrative sentences and general questions to them, then all other categories English sentences will be much easier to compose.

A question that requires a YES or NO answer. In our case - "Do they go to Sochi every summer? - Yes. - No."
In Russian, to ask this question, we simply change the intonation, but the word order remains the same.
In English, to ask a general question, you need to put the auxiliary verb in the first place in the sentence.

So, we look at our proposal and determine the time. present simple. The auxiliary verbs of this tense are "do" and "does". For the pronoun "they" - "do".

We get: "Do they go to Sochi every summer?"
Answer: "Yes, they do" - "Yes." "No, they don't" - "No."

Note! There are "strong verbs" in English that do not require an auxiliary verb. That's almost all modal verbs("can", "may", "must", etc.) and the verb "to be" (or rather its forms).

2) Alternative question. Alternative Question

A question of choice. Let me show you with our example: "DO THEY or WE go to Sochi every summer?", "Do they GO or FLY to Sochi every summer?", "Do they go to Sochi or Murmansk every summer?", "Do they go to Sochi every SUMMER or WINTER?"

Conclusion: we can give an alternative to each member of the sentence. In this case, we always use the union "or" - "or". Remember it!

To summarize. To ask an alternative question, we bring forward the auxiliary verb (as in a general question) and do not forget to ask an alternative to any member of the sentence using the union "or".

We get: "Do we or they go to Sochi every summer?"
or: "Do they go to Sochi or Murmansk every summer?"

3) A dividing question. Tag-question

A question with a "tail")) We translate the tail "Isn't it?"
A disjunctive question is constructed according to the following formula:

our sentence unchanged + comma + tail?

What is this ponytail? It consists of 2 words: an auxiliary verb and a pronoun.

Let me explain with our example:
"They go to Sochi every summer."

First of all, you need to accurately determine the time .. In our case - Present Simple .. auxiliary verbs "Do" / "Does .. "They" - "Do". We look again at our proposal and determine whether it is negative or affirmative .. Affirmative - it means that our tail will be negative! If the sentence were negative, the auxiliary verb would become positive, i.e. without the negative particle "not".

We complete our sentence with the pronoun from the 1st part - "they". Attention! If in the first part of the sentence the subject is a noun, we replace it with a pronoun (for example, "a table" - "it", "books" - "they", "Mom" - "she").

They go to Sochi every summer, don't they?
(They go to Sochi every summer, don't they?)

Note! If "I am" acts as the subject and predicate, we write "...., aren" t I?"

4) Special question. Special Question

A question in which the speaker asks for specific information. ("Where do they go every summer?", "Who goes to Sochi every summer?", "When do they go to Sochi?").

A special question is often referred to as a "Wh-Question". This is due to the fact that almost all question words begin with the letter combination "Wh".

For example:
what? - what? which?
where? - where? where?
why? - why?
which? - which?
who? - who?
how? - as?
when? - when?

Formula special question:
Interrogative words + general question?

"Where do they go to every summer?"
"When do they go to Sochi?"

Special question to the subject.
"Who goes to Sochi every summer?"

We will consider this kind of special question separately, since it has a different structure:

Who / What + rewrite the sentence without the subject.

Attention!!! Most importantly - Who / what - 3rd person, singular! Do you remember that in Present Simple, in this case, the ending "-s / -es" is added to the verb!

We get: "Who goes to Sochi every summer?"

As you know, a question is a request for information or an action. Every day we ask ourselves and others many different questions. different types questions (Who am I? Why did I come into this world? Who is the cutest in the world? How to learn English in a month? ..). The questions are different, but formally they are united by one common feature(or rather, a sign): at the end of each interrogative sentence there is always a question mark.

So, let's see what types of questions are in English.

Closed questions

Closed questions are those types of questions that require a yes/no, true/false answer.

Auxiliary verbs are used for this type of questions in English ( do/does, am/is/are, have/has). The auxiliary verb is placed at the beginning of the sentence. Thus, the predicate and the subject are reversed.

Statement	Question
He is from London. — He is from London.	Is he from London? — Is he from London?

Formation of questions in Present Continuous

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