2015-08-21
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We ask question-word + inversion-type questions to elicit any element in a sentence other than the identity of the sub|ect statement Elaine went to her mothers by bus yesterday because the trains weren t running
Questions, answers, negatives
Note the 'target' of each of the following questions None of them produces the answer 'Elaine' The answer may be a single word, a phrase, a clause, or even a whole sentence [but > 13.41-42]
questions answers 'target'
When did Elaine go to her mothers? Yesterday adverb of time
Where did Elaine go yesterday? To her mother s adverb of place
How did she get there? By bus adverb of manner
Whose house did Elaine go to? Her mother s adverb of place
Why did she go by bus? Because the trains clause of reason
weren t running
What did Elaine do yesterday? She went to her whole sentence
mother s by bus
Sometimes two or more question-words are used in a question Where and when shall I pick you up?
How and why did Louis XIV justify the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands'? (This kind of question is common in exam papers)
Particular question-words and their uses
Who(m)...?' as a question-word
Who(m)? asks for the object of a sentence, usually a person's name
Subject verb object
statement Frank met Alice
Who(m)-question Who(m) did Frank meet? - Alice
Who(m)? refers only to people and can be used to inquire about
masculine, feminine, singular or plural, so the answer to the above
question could be Alice, John or Alice and John
Though Whom? is still used in formal English, spoken or written,
Who? is generally accepted in everyday style Who(m)? often
occurs in questions with verbs followed by to or for
Who(m) did you give it to/did you buy it for? [compare > 8.22]
What...?' as a question-word
What? can be answered by a whole sentence
What are you doing? - I'm reading 'Kim' What can also ask about the object of a sentence which might, for example, be a thing, a substance, a date, a measurement, etc
