Unit 1A: Questions and Answers

 Let's start with the textbook but as some of the students are still trying to get it, I'll introduce the main grammar point of this lesson: how to make questions in English.

I'm absolutley sure you know how to make questions but let's check there are no doubts, especially in those cases which are a bit different. This is a summary of the kind of questions you can find:

• YES/NO questions: as they have this kind of answer, they are also called "total" questions. The structures is AUXILIARY+SUBJECT+MAIN VERB. These are some examples:
• Is he attending our class?  ---  Yes, he is    Can you drive?  -----  No, I can't
• "Partial" questions: when you only ask something in particular, that is, a "part" of the sentence; these questions start with WH-words but you also need the inversion, as you can see in these examples:
• WHERE was he born?  -----  He was born in Murcia.
• HOW MANY children have you got?  -----  I've got 2, a boy and a girl.
• HOW MUCH sugar do you need?  -----  Just a little.
• WHY did you phone Susan yesterday?  ------  Because I wanted to meet her.
• Exceptions: when the WH-word has the function of the subject in the questionyou don't have to use the inversion; have a look at the examples to see how they work:
• WHO is coming tonight?  -----   A few friends (THEY are coming)
• HOW MANY friends are coming?  -----  Just 3 or 4 close friends.
• HOW MUCH sugar is needed?  -----  Not much (Not much sugar is needed)
• WHAT happened to you?  -----  Nothing (nothing happened to me).
• Negative questions: if you use the negative form contracted, there's no change; however, if you use it as a normal adverb, it'll take that position. Look at the examples:
• Aren't they coming?    BUT    Are they not coming?
• Indirect questions: as you only have one question mark in a single question, you can't use two inversions, just one. Let's see the examples:
• Can you tell me where the car is?
• Do you know what the answer is in this item?
• Questions with prepositions: when the main verb of the question or an adjective go with preposition this should be kept in their natural position, as you can see in the examples below:
• How many people do you work with at work?   ---   I work with 2 people
• What are you listening to?  ----   I'm listening to classical music
• What sort of music are you fond of?  ----   I'm fond of salsa

If you have time, visit this link with examples of questions; it'll be pretty useful, I think. At the end you have some exercises but you'd better practise orally, paying attention to grammar and entonation. These are suggestions to review questions:

• A goog exercise is to take a sentence and to ask about different parts of it:
• Yesterday Peter came to school by car  because he was late  --- Who came by car?  How did he come to school?  When did he come by car?  Why did he do that? etc.
• Another good way to practise questions is by asking about a story or a fairy tale, like in the example:
• Cinderella: Who was she? How many sisters did she have? Why was she so unhappy? What happened to her during the ball?  What did the prince do? etc.
• You can do something similar but with a real anecdote. Try to ask the questions below and you'll realise you have the way to write about that. These are some examples:
• A trip: When? Who with? How? How long? Where? What was it like? Why? etc.
• An embarrassing moment in your life
• What I used to do as a child

Hope this entry will be useful. See you in class and remember to do the reading comprehension and the exercises of vocabulary on pages10 and 11 of your textbook..