English Grammar Masterplan
Lesson 20: Basic Question Forms
Lesson Overview
Yes/No Questions: We will be looking at how to
form and use yes/no questions.
‘Wh-’ Questions: Examining all the different ‘Wh-’
questions with examples.
Question tags: What are they? How do we use
them?
Yes/No Questions
How do we form them?
Yes/No questions are typically formed by inverting
the subject and the auxiliary verb (or modal verb) in
a sentence. If there is no auxiliary verb, you use the
appropriate form of the verb "to be" as the auxiliary.
Yes/No Questions
Examples
She is coming to the party.
Is she coming to the party?
You can swim.
Can you swim?
"Wh-" Questions (Information Questions)
How do we form them?
"Wh-" questions are formed by starting with a
question word (e.g., who, what, where, when, why,
how) followed by an auxiliary verb and the subject, or
by moving the question word to the beginning of the
sentence and using a regular sentence structure.
"Wh-" Questions (Information Questions)
Examples
What are you doing tomorrow?
Where did they go on vacation?
Why is he upset?
Question Tags
How do we form them?
Question tags are short questions added to the end
of a statement. They often use a contraction of the
auxiliary verb (or "be" verb) and a pronoun. If the
statement is positive, the question tag is negative,
and vice versa.
Question Tags
Examples
You're coming to the meeting, aren't you?
She likes pizza, doesn't she?
They aren't going, are they?
Questions
She has a cat.
Yes/No Question: Does she have a cat?
"Wh-" Question: What does she have?
Question Tag: She has a cat, doesn't she?
Questions
They went to the beach yesterday.
Yes/No Question: Did they go to the beach
yesterday?
‘Wh-’ Question: Where did they go yesterday?
Question Tag: They went to the beach yesterday,
didn't they?
Questions
He can speak Spanish fluently.
Yes/No Question: Can he speak Spanish fluently?
"Wh-" Question: What languages can he speak
fluently?
Question Tag: He can speak Spanish fluently, can't
he?
Practice
Practice: Try forming yes/no questions with the
following sentences:
She likes chocolate.
You have a dog.
They will attend the meeting.
Practice
She likes chocolate.
Does she like chocolate?
You have a dog.
Do you have a dog?
They will attend the meeting.
Will they attend the meeting?
Practice
Create "wh-" questions based on these statements:
She ate lunch at the café.
He will arrive at 2:00 PM.
They visited Paris last summer.
Practice
She ate lunch at the café.
Where did she eat lunch?
He will arrive at 2:00 PM.
When will he arrive?
They visited Paris last summer.
Where did they visit last summer?
Practice
Try creating question tags for these sentences:
He is a doctor.
You were at the party.
They can swim.
Practice
He is a doctor.
He is a doctor, isn't he?
You were at the party.
You were at the party, weren't you?
They can swim.
They can swim, can't they?
See you next time!
