Types of questions

1. General questions require Yes / No answers and begin with an auxiliary or modal verb (is, are, do does, can, may, etc.) which is followed by the subject. E.g. Are you a student? – Yes, I am. Can you speak English? – Yes, I can.

2. Special questions can be divided into three groups:

A) Wh-questions begin with a question word such as what, who, where, when, why, etc. Then we put the auxiliary or modal verb before the subject.

question word

auxiliary/modal

subject

notional verb

E.g. What are you looking for? – My notes. Who do you want to see? – The manager.

B) Questions to the group of subject begin with a question word such as which, what, whose, how many / much, then we put the subject and predicate in the corresponding form.

E.g. 2000 students study here. – How many students study here?

My father is a lawyer. – Whose father is a lawyer?

Criminal law is my favourite subject. – Which law is your favourite subject?

C) Subject questions are questions we ask when we want to know who performs the action. These questions usually begin with the words who, what or which of.

subject	verb	object
My friend	knows	English.
Who	knows	English?

3. Question tags are short questions at the end of statements. They are used in speech when we want to confirm something or when we want to find out is something is true or not. We form them with the help of the auxiliary from the main sentence and the appropriate subject pronoun.

E.g. Tom is a student, isn’t he?

She can’t drive, can she?

She likes dancing, doesn’t she?

They won the prize, didn’t they?

Note. Some verbs / expressions form question tags differently. Study the following examples:

I am → aren’t I?	I am busy, aren’t I?
Imperative → will / won’t you?	Stop talking, will / won’t you?
Don’t → will you?	Don’t talk, will you?
Let’s → shall we?	Let’s go out, shall we?
I have (got) → haven’t I? (= I possess)	He has got a car, hasn’t he?
I have → don’t I? (other meanings)	You have lunch at 3 o’clock, don’t you?
There is/are → isn’t/aren’t there?	There is a book on the desk, isn’t there?
This/That is → isn’t it?	This is her book, isn’t it?

The verb Tenses in the Active Voice Present Simple & Present Continuous

Present Simple and Present Continuous The Present Simple is used: for permanent states, repeated actions and daily routines. E.g. He works at a law office. He prepares legal documents for general truths and laws of nature. E.g. It rarely rains in deserts. for timetables (trains, planes, etc.) and programmes. E.g. The planes to London take off at 6 am. For sports commentaries, reviews and narration. E.g. He kicks the ball and passes it to Dawson. Time expressions: always, usually, often, seldom / rarely, sometimes, never, every day/week, etc., in the morning / afternoon / evening, at night / the weekend, etc.

The Present Continuous is used: for actions taking place now, at the moment of speaking, or for temporary actions; for actions that are going on around now, but not at the actual moment of speaking. E.g. She is working hard these days. Right now she is reading her text-book. with always, constantly, forever, continually to express our irritation at actions which happen too often. E.g. You are always forgetting to do your homework. for actions that we have already arranged to do in the near future, especially when the time and place have already decided. E.g. He is meeting his client at 3pm. for changing or developing situations. E.g. More and more forests are disappearing because of fires. Time expressions: now, at the moment, at present, these days, tonight, nowadays, still, etc.