The sentence
The sentence
The sentence
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H. Subject-questions: ‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘Which?’, ‘Whose?’<br />
Subject of object?<br />
1. A subject-question asks for the identity of the subject.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is no inversion and the question has the same word order as a statement:<br />
subject verb object subject-answer<br />
statement: Someone paid the waiter.<br />
subject-question: Who paid the waiter? John (did).<br />
Compare a Who(m)-question which asks for the object of a statement:<br />
subject verb object object-answer<br />
statement: John paid the waiter<br />
Who(m)-question: Who(m) did John pay? <strong>The</strong> waiter.<br />
2. Answers to subject-questions often echo the auxiliary verb used in the question:<br />
Who can play the piano? – I can./I can’t.<br />
When no auxiliary verb is present in the question, we use do, does or did in the answer:<br />
Who wants a lift? – I do. Who won? – We did.<br />
3. What, Which, Whose and How much/How many can combine with other subject-words:<br />
What number is …? Which boy like …? Whose car is …? How many students are …?<br />
I. Questions about alternatives, Emphatic questions with ‘ever’<br />
Questions about alternatives (1): ‘Did you laugh, or cry?;<br />
We can abbreviate questions after or.<br />
Instead of: Did you laugh, or did you cry when you heard the news?<br />
We can say: Did you laugh or cry when you heard the news?<br />
Questions about alternatives (2): ‘Did you take it, or didn’t you?’<br />
We can ask two questions, one affirmative and one negative, about the same thing without<br />
repeating the verb in full.<br />
Instead of: Did you take it, or didn’t you take it?<br />
We can say: Did you take it, or didn’t you?<br />
or: Did you or didn’t you take it? Did you, or didn’t you?<br />
or: Did you task it, or not? (Not *or no*)<br />
Emphatic questions with ‘ever’, etc.<br />
1. We ask emphatic questions with ever to expression admiration, anger, concern, etc.<br />
We write ever as a separate word from question-words. Compare:<br />
Where ever did you buy that tie? Wherever you go, take your passport.<br />
How ever did you manage it? However, I managed to persuade him.<br />
What ever does she see in him? Whatever she sees in him, she’ll marry him.<br />
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