Subject and object questions

• Questions normally require the inversion of an auxiliary (be, do or modal verb) and the subject; however, when the WH- pronoun or adjective is the subject of a question, the structure is the same as in affirmative sentences. Compare these two examples: Subject

Who did he pick up from the station? (he picked somebody from the station) Subject

Who picked him up from the station? (somebody picked him from the station) • You can better understand this difference if you look at the answers to these questions:

Who did he pick up from the station? He picked up his brother from the station. (‘who’ refers to the object = his brother) Who picked him up from the station? Samuel picked him up from the station. (‘who’ refers to the subject that picked him up) • who, what and which can all be the subject of questions; in less frequent cases you may also find whose, how many or how much. Look at the examples: Who killed Abraham Lincoln? What is going on? Which of those children won the drawing contest? Whose father wants to talk to the teacher? How many students took part in the race?

Questions with final preposition

• When a question starting with who , what or which contains a verb that is followed by a preposition, the preposition is at the end of the question: What are you looking at? Which book are they talking about?

Who is this parcel for? • In spoken English you can often omit the verb when asking this type of questions during a conversation: Can you give me your phone number?

What for?

• In formal English we may find prepositions before the WH- question word, but this happens very rarely: In what kind of hobbies is your sister interested?

In which of these teams of Formula 1 did Michael Schumacher run? • When referring to a person, you must use whom if the preposition is placed at the beginning of the question: To whom did you give your address? With whom would you like to speak?

Underline the correct alternative. 1 What did it happen / happened yesterday? 2 Who’s meeting / is he meeting tomorrow? 3 Which colour suits / does it suit me the best? 4 Who will he clean / will clean up this mess? 5 Which of these people worked / did you work for? 6 What kind of car does Adam have / has Adam?

7 8 9 10 11 12

Who are you sending / is sending the photos to? Which cat ate / did it eat all the fish? Which US States start / do they start with C? What means this word / does this word mean? How much rain fell / did it fall during the flood? Who did he win / won the US election in 2008?

Match the questions on the left (1-8) to the answers on the right (a-h). 1 Who can cook well in your family? a Miriam told me. 2 What did you tell Dad? b I bought them online. 3 Which of your CDs did you sell? c My dad can. He makes delicious pizzas. 4 Who told you about it? d She likes the dark-haired one. 5 What can you cook? e I told him we had lost his credit card. 6 Who sold you these CDs? f The one with blue eyes. He’s in love with her. 7 Which of these boys does Sally like? g I only sold the one my ex boyfriend gave me. 8 Which of these boys likes Sally? h Actually, I can only make omelettes.

Build suitable questions based on the underling parts in the given answers. Look at the example. 0 I went to Vietnam with my sons. Who did you go to Vietnam with? 1 They were interested in western films. ______________________________________________________ 2 I have just paid for the small coke. ______________________________________________________ 3 Laura is going to do the shopping. ______________________________________________________ 4 Richard III was killed by Henry Tudor. ______________________________________________________ 5 World War I began in 1914. ______________________________________________________ 6 He has to buy some milk for tomorrow. ______________________________________________________ 7 The subject of this poem is the ‘dark lady’. ______________________________________________________ 8 I prefer the blue scarf to the red one. ______________________________________________________

First Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first using the word in brackets. You must use between 2 and 5 words. 1 Who was arrested this morning? (police) Who _________________________________ this morning? 2 What causes the greenhouse effect? (by) What’s _________________________________? 3 Who borrowed your bike? (lend) Who _________________________________ to? 4 Who sold it to you? (buy) Who _________________________________? 5 Which of them makes you feel bored? (find) Which of them _________________________________? 6 What’s the meaning of ‘FBI’? (stand) What _________________________________?

37 Listen to the synopsis of a famous Victorian love story and complete the questions based on the answers provided.

1 2 3 4 5

Who __________________________? Emily Brontë wrote ‘Wuthering Heights’ in the Victorian Age. What __________________________? It’s about the love story between Catherine and Heathcliff. Who __________________________? She marries Edgar Linton. Who __________________________ Isabella Linton? Heathcliff marries her because he wants to ruin her. Which __________________________? The two narrators that tell the story are Nelly Dean and Mr Lockwood. Who __________________________ marry? She’ll marry Hareton.