Sentence structure: Advanced question types

In this chapter

• Subject question or object question?

  If Who / What asks about the subject (the doer), we don't use do / does / did, and the sentence keeps normal order. If it asks about the object, we use the normal question pattern.

• One event, two questions

  Example: Emma called Leo.

  Example: Who called Leo?

• Two patterns

  Subject question: Who ate my cookies? · Object question: What did you see at the zoo?

• Indirect questions: polite questions (a question inside another sentence)

  Example: Where is the station?

  Example: Can you tell me where the station is?

• Question tags (isn't it?)

  Positive sentence → negative tag: It's cold, isn't it? · Negative sentence → positive tag: You don't eat meat, do you?

• Question tag examples

  Example: It is a beautiful day, isn't it?

  Example: You play the drums, don't you?

• Tip

  A question tag is like the Turkish “değil mi?”, but it repeats the helping verb and the subject: positive sentence → negative tag, negative sentence → positive tag. Watch out: I am → aren't I? (I'm late, aren't I?)