Question to the subject in the future simple. Questions to the subject in English: diagrams and examples for all tenses. Questions with who in English. Examples

The essence of any communication is the exchange of information. If you want to know something specific from your interlocutor, then you need to ask an informational question. So that the interlocutor understands exactly what information you want to receive from him, important role plays the correct question word. In an information question, the question word should come first.

All question words, with the exception of How, begin with the letters Wh, so information questions are often called Wh-Questions. Question words can be one word, two words, or a whole phrase. Some words (what, how) form a series of interrogative combinations, which we will also pay attention to.

Many people find it difficult to remember all the question words at once, because at first glance they seem very similar. In addition, most of the question words have nuances in use that simply cannot be ignored.

I decided to introduce you to question words gradually, in doses, because I know from myself how difficult it is to quickly perceive a large number of information. In my explanations, I will not limit myself to the translation of the question word and examples of questions with it, but will try to tell you as much as possible. Today we will look at the words who, whom and whose.

Who? - Who? (Who? To whom? By whom?)

This word is only used in questions about a person. When we ask a question with the word who , we want to get the person's name in response, or information about who that person is:

Who is it? - Who is this?
Who will help you? - Who will help you?
Who did you invite to the party? -Who did you invite to the party?
Who did they travel with? -Who did they travel with?

Questions with who can be of two types: questions to the subject and questions to the object. Depending on what exactly we want to ask, the structure of the question will change:

Who called you? - Who called you?
(question to the subject)
Who did you call? - Who did you call?
(question for addition)

I explained the difference between these questions in great detail in the article. If you find it difficult to understand the difference between these types of questions, I highly recommend that you read and understand.

Whom - Whom? By whom? To whom?

The interrogative word whom is very similar to who, even translated the same way, but is not used as often as who. If who can ask questions to the subject (Who?), then questions with whom imply a question only about the object: Whom? To whom? It is rarely seen in modern colloquial speech, this word is more typical of the formal style:

Whom did you meet yesterday? -Who did you meet yesterday?
Whom is she calling? -Who is she calling?

Whom is often used in questions with verbs that require the preposition to, for, with, and others after them. For example: give, speak, talk, buy, send and many others. Therefore, questions with whom at the beginning can have a preposition at the end:

Who(m) did you talk to? - Who did you talk to?
Who(m) did he buy it for? - Who/for whom did he buy it?
Who(m) did you send the letter to? - Who did you send the letter to?

In all the examples above, you can replace who with whom. But if you have a very formal tone, then the preposition can come at the beginning of the sentence, before whom:

To whom did you talk to? - Who did you talk to?
With whom will you meet? -Who will you meet?

Whose? - Whose?

If you need to ask a question about who owns something, you will need the question word whose. Most often whose is used with a noun. If the question is about an object (whose object?), and from the communication situation it is clear what exactly the question is about (for example, you point to an object), then the noun may be omitted:

Whose (book) is this? - Whose book is this?
Whose (pencils) are those? - Whose pencils are they?

If you are asking about people, then the noun after whose cannot be removed:

Whose brother is he? -Whose brother is he?
Whose children are they? - Whose children are these?

The noun about which the question is being asked can also go to the end of the sentence. Then auxiliary follows directly after the question word whose:

Whose is this book? - Whose book is this?
Whose are those pencils? - Whose pencils are they?
Whose are these children? - Whose children are these?

Since the owners of something are usually people, in response we expect to hear the name of a person in the possessive case, or possessive pronoun. We discussed in detail how to answer questions with whose in the articles and.

Whose can also be used with prepositions. The preposition can appear at the very beginning of the question (more formal option) or at the end (less formal option):

With whose plan do you agree? -Whose plan do you agree with?
In whose house did you stay? - Whose house did you stay in?

And one last point. You can confuse the question word whose with the form who's, because they sound exactly the same. Who's is from who is or who has, so there is no auxiliary verb after it (it is shortened), and after whos e there is a regular, unabridged auxiliary verb:

Who's this? - Who is this?
Who's got a pen? -Who has a pen?
Who's done that? - Who did it?
Whose is this? - Whose is this?

In the next article on questions, I will tell you about question words. And the next article will be devoted to the question words where, when, how. If you have any questions, write to us and leave comments.

Do you want to relax and not think about the order of words in a sentence? We have a way: this who-questions, or questions to the subject in English language.

Let's say you know the basic types of questions. Are you familiar with question words such asWho, Why, When, What And How.

Suppose you are even aware of such a concept as inversion.

Just in case, let's remember:inversion- This is when the order of words in a sentence changes. It is often used to ask a question in English. For the Russian language, this way of forming questions is uncharacteristic.

Maybe you've come across sentences that ended withisn't it? - and thus, you became acquainted with another type of question - dividing.

And you have firmly learned that the auxiliary verbdoindispensable when you need to ask a question in simple tense (of course, only when we are talking about action verbs).

Probably, after everything you have learned, you have the idea that it is not an easy matter to ask questions in English. And indeed, why not use intonation, without any auxiliary verbs and permutations? Here's how it is in Russian:

Have you eaten today?
Have you eaten today?

It is enough to put a question mark on the letter, and in oral speech raise the note on the word "ate".

Just think about how monstrous the construction “Did you eat today?” looks in comparison. And this is exactly how an ignorant person will translate the phrase “Did you eat today?”

If you are angry and indignant at English grammarians, relax. Exhale. There is a type of question that does not require turning your brain inside out. Thisquestion to the subject, Englisha straightforward question. We simply put a question word, a verb and, if any, an object in a row:

Enjoy how easily these phrases are translated, word by word. There is no need to rearrange or calculate anything, just translate in a row:

Who ate the cookies?

What helps you concentrate?

Who built the Berlin Wall?

How nice it would be if all the questions were so simple. But this structure becomes possible only if the answer to the question is the subject.Questions to the subject in English, exampleswhich you see in the table above, use question words.These could be wordswho, what, how many(who, what, how much). The main thing is that these words ask a question about the subject.

But if there are question words, then these are just special questions?

Let's compare two sentences in which the question is asked usinghow many:

How many cookies are in the box? (How many cookies are in the box?)

How many cookies did you eat? (How many cookies did you eat?)

In the second sentence, many things are structured differently than in the first, despite the same beginning.

Firstly, there is that same auxiliary verbdo. It is in Past Simple form:did.

Accordingly, it looks differenteat- semantic verb. It is in the infinitive form, and not in the past tense form, because the auxiliary has already changed insteaddo.

The word order also changes -didbrought into place before the subject.

In general, many changes have occurred with the proposal. Conclusion: This question is of the typespecial questions.

In the first sentence there is no inversion or auxiliary verbs, because the question concerns the subject.

What is it subject? This, no more or less, is exactly the person or thing that performs the action. That is, not the person himself, of course, but that part of speech that designates him.

Subject- This main character proposals, its character.

What can a hero do? Anything, for example, sing, eat, laugh:

Katja sings a song. (Katya sings a song).

Vanja eats his breakfast. (Vanya eats his breakfast).

Bobby laughs at me at school. (Bobby laughs at me at school).

And the hero can justbe, and then the verb will be usedto be:

Katja is a singer. (Kate- singer).

Vanja is a sales manager. (Vania - Sales Manager).

Bobby is a bully. (Bobby- bully).

Katya, Vanya and Bobby - This subjectin your proposals.

Let's now do something exciting: ask these subject questions! Can you guess what question word we will use? Certainly,Who(Who).

Who sings a song? (Who's singing the song?)

Who eats his breakfast? (Who eats their breakfast?)

Who laughs at me at school? (Who laughs at me at school?)

And with a verb to be:

Whois a singer? (Who is the singer?)

Whois a sales manager? (Who is the sales manager?)

Whois a bully? (Who's the badass?)

What have we done? We just put the wordwhoin place of the subject. After allsubject- this is the part of speech that answers the questionWho? or What?

It really is that simple.

Question to the subject in English: examples

Who eats mosquitoes?
Who eats mosquitoes?

What makes me happy?
What makes me happy?

What makes the frog happy?
What makes a frog happy?

Answers to questions in the examples will begin with the subject, but otherwise the structure of the sentences will not change:

The frog eats mosquitoes.
The frog eats mosquitoes.

Ice cream makes me happy.
Ice cream makes me happy.

Mosquitoes make the frog happy.
Mosquitoes make the frog happy.

Just remember that in the answer the verb must be changed in accordance with the number of the subject:

Whatmakes the frog happy?- Here is the verb makein the singular;

Mosquitoesmake the frog happy- and here makealready in shape plural, because there are a lot of mosquitoes, or mosquitoes.

By the way, how do we figure out what number to put the verb in a question if we don’t know how many characters there are - many or one?

The default is singular. This is not difficult to understand, because the same thing is observed in the Russian language.

For example, you look in the refrigerator at work and discover that the sandwiches you've been dreaming about all morning have disappeared (once again). You guess that no one will answer you, but still, with a mixture of unpleasant feelings, you say:

Who keeps stealing my sandwiches?

Verb stealyou use singular -steals, although it is possible that many of your employees had a hand in the sandwiches.

You do not speak:

Who constantlysteal my sandwiches?

This pressing question in English will sound like this:

Who constantlysteals my sandwiches?

Likewise, verbstealtook shape singular and third person, adding the ending -s:steals.

You can also remember this rule like this: imagine the word “somebody” in place of the subject. Somebodyin English it is always singular, so the form of the verb will correspond to it.

Somebodyis in the house. (Someone is home).
Whois in the house? (Who is home?)

Attention, error!

Sometimes you just want to wrap up a grammatically complex phrase to show what we have been studying for so long in different educational institutions. Don't be tempted! No need to say:

Whodid steal my food?

Do you remember that the verbdonot needed in this type of questions?

The exception is when it is used to enhance expressiveness. Approximately like our particle “zhe”:

- I didn’t steal your sandwiches
(I didn't steal your sandwiches)

- But whodid steal them then?
(But who stole them then?)

How to ask such a question in different tenses?

The grammatical tense can be any, but the rule is the same: the word order remains straight.

Here is a short excerpt from the diary of a man who is kept awake by noisy neighbors. Read it and try to ask questions to the subject in different tenses.

This diary English, questions to the subjectWe also compose in English.

Dear diary,
It's 11 p.m. Our neighbors are drilling and hammering. Another guy next door had a party yesterday at 5 a.m. The neighbor upstairs has been drilling in the exact same spot for 3 weeks. I will call the police one day.

Dear Diary!
It's 11 pm. Our neighbors are drilling and hammering. Another guy from the next apartment was having a party at five in the morning yesterday. The neighbor upstairs has been drilling at one point for three weeks. One day I'll call the police.

Here are the questions we came up with:

Question to the subject in the Present Continuous

Who is drilling and hammering?
Who drills and hammers?

Past Simple

Who had the party yesterday at 5 a.m.?
Who threw the party at five in the morning yesterday?

Present Perfect Continuous

Who has been drilling in the exact same spot for 3 weeks?
Who has been drilling at the same point for three weeks?

Future Simple

Who will call the police?
Who will call the police?

Who, whom, who and whom

When you read in English or listen to English speech, it is very important not to confuse who is the object of the action and who is the subject. Otherwise, you can draw the wrong conclusions.

Subject- is the one who (that) performs the action. The part of speech is the subject.

An object- the one or the one on whom (what) the action is performed. Part of speech is an addition.

The word you can ask questions aboutwhom, what, to whom, what, about , that is, questions for all cases except the nominative, and will be an addition.

The official rule is that if the question refers to the subject, you should use the wordWho.

And for addition there is a question wordWhom(whom).

Who framed Roger rabbit?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

But:

Whom did Roger rabbit frame?
Whom Framed by Roger Rabbit?

On practice Whomcan be found more often in written speech, but in oral speech it is quite acceptable to useWhofor questions about the supplement: Who do you love? (Who do you love?)

How to answer questions to the subject?

A direct question (with direct word order) must be answered directly. That is, first the subject, then the verb, then the object.

- Who killed Sam? (Who killed Sam?)
- Mike killed Sam. (Mike killed Sam).

You can replace the semantic verb withdid, to be short.

-Mike did. (Mike).

In sentences containing a verbto be, the answer will also includeto bein the appropriate form:

- Who is fixing the computer? (Who fixes the computer?)
- My husband’s friend is doing it. (My husband's friend does this).

Or:

- My husband’s friend is. (My husband's friend).

Often there is a very simple option when, in response to a question to the subject, the speaker simply names the subject without a verb:

-Who is on the team?
- (Who's on the team?)

- Guys from all over the world. (Guys from all over the world).

To feel bettersubject questions, you can include in your everyday life the following expressions that can often be heard from English-speaking people:

1) Who cares?

A rhetorical question. Literally -who cares(about this), the semantic translation is “who cares”, “so what”. With a slight tinge of hopelessness and/or indifference, because the answer is usually “nobody” (no one cares).

- If you don’t practice, you will fail your test.

- Who cares? ( - If you don't study, you will fail the test.
- So what?)

2) Who told you (that)?

“Who told you (this)?”

Another useful phrase, it is useful for expressing disagreement with what has been said.

Who told you I didn't love you?
(Who told you that I don't love you?)

3) Who's there?

Such question to the subject in the Present Simpleis asked to ask "who's there?"

- Knock-knock! (Knock Knock!)
-Who's there? (Who's there?).

4) What happened?

An irreplaceable phrase, easily translated and meaning “what happened?”

- What happened?
- Nothing, it's just a scratch.

( - What's happened?
- Nothing, just a scratch).

So that you can easily askquestion to the subject in English, exercisesnecessary, despite the simplicity of this topic. We invite you to do a fun little exercise right now!

Mafia leader translator

Thirties, USA. There is a criminal showdown going on. The reason for the meeting was a series of brutal murders in the mafia environment:

Mike killed Sam
Mike killed Henry
Lucky killed Mike
Frank killed Lucky

The mafia leader came from Italy and still doesn't speak English very well. Besides, he is already old and has forgotten who killed whom. Help him learn the following things:

Who killed Sam?
Who killed Henry?
Who killed Mike?
Who killed Lucky?

And generally speaking,

Who is still alive?

Here are the questions. Did it work out the same for you?

Who killed Sam?
Who killed Henry?
Who killed Mike?
Who killed Lucky?

Who is still alive?

*no mafiosi were harmed during the preparation of this exercise.

Thanks to lessons 8 and 20, you are already familiar with question words and can ask questions in different tenses. Today's lesson is about how to ask questions to the subject.

Question words who and what

The subject is the main member of the sentence, indicating the person or thing performing the action. When you ask a question to a subject, the question words Who and What are used. The word order with them remains exactly the same as in positive proposal. And most importantly, no auxiliary verbs are used. For example:

Sam is talking to Katy. — Who is talking to Katy?

The accident happened yesterday. — What happened yesterday?

He can do it. — Who can do it?

The interrogative words Who and What are used when we ask a question to a complement (answers questions in oblique cases). In this case, you will need auxiliary verbs:

Sam is talking to Katy. — Who is Sam talking to?

They bought a new car yesterday. — What did they buy?

He can do it. — What can he do?

Important! Pay attention to the use of prepositions in questions!

The words what and who agree with a singular verb, so remember to add the ending “s” to the predicate in a subject question, for example:

They speak Spanish. — Who speak s Spanish?

Question words which, whose, how many and how much

The interrogative words which, whose, how many and how much can also build a question to the subject. In this case, they must be used together with a noun:

The bedroom has two windows. — Which room has two windows?

Tom's dog is playing in the garden. — Whose dog is playing in the garden?

A lot of people live here. — How many people live here?

Some money has been paid. — How much money has been paid?

If you use these question words to ask a question to the complement, you will need auxiliary verbs:

I will choose Room 7. — Which room will you choose?

Ruth is walking Tom's dog. — Whose dog is Ruth walking?

I asked a few people. — How many people did you ask?

I paid some money. — How much money did you pay?

Lesson assignments

Task 1. Ask a question to the subject using who, what, which, whose, how many or how much.

1. These flowers look wonderful.
2. So many people call here every day.
3. My brother works in the Zoo.
4. Rachel is coming to see us.
5. Mum's bag is in the car.
6. Red house is the biggest.
7. Miss Morstan will go to Paris.
8. The flight has been delayed.

Task 2. Ask a question about the highlighted word.

One of the most difficult topics in class is consideredquestions with who in English. But in fact, everything is quite simple, since in these questions you don’t even need to use auxiliary verbs. And the word order remains exactly the same as in a regular declarative sentence. Questions withwhoare quite common in English, so it is important to learn how to formulate them correctly.

Questions with who in English. Construction scheme

Regarding word order in questions with who in English, then it is universal. Pay attention to the following diagram:

Who + main verb (often in the 3rd person singular) + other parts of the sentence

Why don't these questions use an auxiliary verb? For the reason that the question is addressed to a person or thing, instead of which in our question we use who. Let's look at examples:

1. A: Who wrote that novel? – Who wrote that novel?

B: Anna did. - Anna.

2. A: Who is speaking? -Who is speaking?

Q: Tom is. - Volume.

It should be noted that such questions occur not only with the word who. Can be applied which, what, whose and even how many. How to figure it out then? You can simply try replacing the question word or phrase with who. If the meaning of the sentence does not change, you need to use the rules for questions with who in English.

For example:

A: How many people came to the meeting? – How many people came to the meeting?

Q: Six people came to the meeting. – Six people came to the meeting.

Questions with who in English. Examples

Below are other examples questions with who(which, what, whose…) in English.

There is one more interest Ask, which always sounds without an auxiliary verb. This What happened? (What's happened?)

Why are questions starting with who so important?

Is it worth focusing on this topic? Why are they so important questions starting with who? Let's try to figure it out using the following suggestions.

Questions to the Subject, or Subject Questions, are one of five types of questions in English grammar. Undoubtedly, its design is the simplest and most understandable. To master it you will have to spend quite a bit of time. Many publications on English grammar do not classify it as a separate type, but attach it to special issues. Despite the fact that the Question to the Subject begins with a special word, its structure is sharply different from the Special Question. Therefore, I still believe that it should be studied as a separate type to avoid confusion.

What is a Question to the Subject and why is it needed?

Questions to the subject (Subject Questions) in English are questions that are asked in order to obtain additional information. From the name it is clear that the information relates directly to the main member of the sentence - the subject.

Subject Questions in English always begin with the question words “who?” and “what?”, which are respectively translated as “who?” So what?". These interrogative pronouns are full members of the sentence. Since the interrogative pronoun replaces the member of the sentence to which the question is asked, in this case it performs the function of the subject.

Subject Questions are the only type of question in the English language that does not have inversion. The word order in a subject question remains the same as in a declarative sentence. Therefore, compiling Subject Questions is not particularly difficult.

It must be emphasized that the question to determine the subject is built on the same principle, without changing the order of words in the sentence. The question to determine the subject begins with one of the following interrogative words: “what” - “which”, “which” - “which”, “whose” - “whose”, “how much” / “how many” - “how much”, for followed by a noun. An interrogative pronoun followed by a noun also functions as a subject.

Composing a Question to the Subject and its Definition is a momentary task that absolutely everyone can handle. A question to the subject begins with the pronoun who for animate nouns and what for inanimate nouns. The question to determine the subject is from the words what, which, whose, how much / how many. The question word is followed by a verb. Thus, in questions to the subject and its definition, direct word order is maintained, as in a declarative sentence.

The principle of compiling Subject Questions is as follows:

We take a declarative sentence, find the subject, and replace it with the appropriate one interrogative pronoun. That's all!

But still there is one small nuance, which should not be forgotten. In the present tense, the verb in a question to the subject must be in the 3rd person, singular form (i.e. you need to add the ending "-s"). Since we do not know what answer may follow, it is customary to use the 3rd person. In Russian the situation is similar.

Let's move on to the questions themselves in English, or rather to the examples, and you will understand everything right away.

• She can speak Spanish very well - She can speak Spanish very well
• Instead of the subject “she” we put the pronoun “who”. We rewrite the rest of the sentence without changes.
• Who can speak Spanish very well? — Who can speak Spanish very well?

• She speaks Spanish very well - She speaks Spanish very well
• Who speaks Spanish very well? — Who speaks Spanish very well?

• I am a teacher - I am a teacher
• In order to ask the question “who is the teacher?” we must put the verb “am” in the 3rd person singular (according to the rule) → i.e. we will use the verb “is” in the question.
• Who is a teacher? - Who is the teacher?

• Surely you now remember the phrase “Who is who?” − Who is who?

• The books are in the classroom - Textbooks in the classroom
• What is in the classroom? — What is in the classroom?

• They speak to her - They speak to her
• In this sentence, to ask a question you need to add an ending to the verb.
• Who speaks to her? -Who is talking to her?

If the verb in a sentence is in the past or future tense, it does not change. For example:

• They worked hard yesterday - They worked hard yesterday
• Who worked hard yesterday? — Who worked hard yesterday?

• We will do it tomorrow - We will do it tomorrow
• Who will do it tomorrow? -Who will do it tomorrow?

Now we will give several examples of Questions to Determine the Subject. Let's take a declarative sentence. We find the definition of the subject and use the corresponding word instead (what, which, whose, how much / how many). We leave the rest of the proposal unchanged. Note that the subject is retained, but the verb is not placed before it.

• My sister is a teacher - My sister is a teacher
• Whose sister is a teacher? - Whose sister is the teacher?

• Green pencils are on the table - Green pencils on the table
• What pencils are on the table? − What pencils are on the table?

Answers to Subject Questions

Subject Questions usually require a short answer that consists of a subject and an auxiliary or modal verb.

• Who has eaten all the apples? - Jim has (Who ate all the apples? - Jim)
• What can be done here? - Nothing can (What can be done in this case? - Nothing)
• Who must clean up the office? — Olga must (Who should clean the office? — Olga)
• Who plays the tennis there? - Helen does (Who plays tennis? - Lena)

If the verbs to be and to have are used in their semantic meaning, then the auxiliary verb is not needed.

• What is that? - That is a car (What is this? - This is a car)
• Who has the power? - The Parliament has. (Who has the power? - Parliament)

In colloquial speech, in response to a question to the subject, an auxiliary or modal verb may go down.

• Who has sang it? — Peter (Who sang this? — Petya)
• What is that? - A car (What is this? - Car)

Watch video lessons on the topic: “Questioning a subject in English”