Formation of Wh-questions

Interrogative pronouns and adverbs are used to ask questions to get substantive information.

Interrogative pronouns are used to get nouns, pronouns, noun phrases and noun clauses.

These include: what, who, which

Subject ( noun/ pronoun) oriented questions.

Question words: who, what, which?

Who refers to persons. What refers to things and animals. Which makes choice from several.

1. Ravi taught English.

Who taught English?

1.English was taught by Ravi.

What was taught by Ravi?

3. Ravi teaches English better than Hindi.

Which( subject) does Ravi teach better?

Predicate oriented questions

Question words: do, does, did+object/complement

1.Ravi taught English.

What did Ravi do?

Object oriented questions

Question words: who, whom, what?

1. Ravi taught English.

What was taught by Ravi?
2. Ravi taught English to us.

To whom was English taught by Ravi?

Or To whom did Ravi teach English?

Possession oriented question

Whose?

1 This is my favourite place.

Whose favourite place is this?

2 That was Ramya's car.

Whose car was that?

Adverb of manner oriented questions.

Question words: How / In what manner?

e.g. Ravi taught English nicely.

How did Ravi teach English?

In what manner did Ravi teach English?

Adverb of place oriented questions

Q. words: where , where to, in or at what place? How far? up to what place?

1 Ravi taught English in the university.

Where did Ravi teach English? (Or) In what place did Ravi teach English ?

2 He travels up to Delhi.

How far / up to what place does he travel?

Adverb of time oriented questions

Q. Words: when? How often? How long? at what time? since what time? till/until what time?
1 He came yesterday.

When did he come?

2 He prays two times a day.

How often does he pray ?

3. He works for eight hours a day.

For how long does he work a day?

4. He has been working since morning.

Since what time has he been working?

5 He keeps working till evening.

Until what time does he keep working?

Adverb of quantity or quality oriented questions

How much ? How + adjective / adverb?

1 He taught us a lot. How much did he teach us?

2 He is very good at English.

How good is he at English ?

3 He is tall enough to reach the cup board.

How tall is he to reach the cupboard?

Adverb of way or means oriented questions

Q. words: How? By what way? By what means?

1 He came by air.
How did he come? (Or) By what way did he come?

2 He made money by means of business.

By what means did he make money ?

Adverb of cause / reason oriented questions

Q. Words: why? Because of what? due to what?

Ravi came late because of missing the train.

Why did Ravi come late?

Because of what did Ravi come late ?

Adverb of purpose oriented questions

Q. words: why ? For what purpose?

Ravi studied hard to become a lecturer.

Why did Ravi study hard?(or) For what purpose did Ravi study hard?

Adverb of condition oriented questions

Q. words : on what condition? When?

1 If you work hard, you will pass.

On what condition will you pass?

2 When you get into troubles, your fair weather friends will leave.

When will your fair weather friends leave?

Adverb of concession oriented questions

Q. words : In spite of what?

He was young and strong but he was physically useless.

In spite of what was he physically useless?

Adjective oriented questions

Q. words: How (much)? what kind of? How many? How old?

1 He looks handsome.

How does he look ?

2 He is a generous man.

What kind of a man is he?

3 There are a few errors in the text.

How many errors are there in the text?

4 She is 20 years old.

How old is she?

Questions for Noun Clauses

If a clause or phrase is substituted with- ‘it' it is understood as noun equivalent.

e.g. 1 He asked me what my name was. ( noun clause)

= He asked me about my name. ( noun phrase) He asked me about it. (pronoun)

What did he ask me about?

2 He asked me where I lived. ( noun clause)

= He asked me about the place of my living. ( noun phrase)

He asked me about it. (pronoun)

What did he ask me about?

3 He asked me when I came.

= He asked me about the time of my coming.

What did he ask me about?

4 That he failed in the exam surprised all.

= His failure in the exam surprised all.

It surprised all.

What surprised all?

5 We are lucky that we escaped.

We are lucky for the escape.

We are lucky for it.

What are we lucky for?

6 That he will come tomorrow is uncertain.

His coming tomorrow is uncertain.

It is uncertain.

What is uncertain?

7 I understand why you did not call me.

I understand the reason for your not calling me .

I understand it.

What do I understand?

8 She knows how to solve the problem.

She knows the way of solving the problem.

 She knows it.

What does she know?

9 I can’t tell you when he will return.

I can’t tell you about the time of his return.

I can’t tell you about it.

What can’t I tell you?

Questions for Noun Clauses

If a clause or phrase is substituted with- ‘it' it is understood as noun equivalent.

e.g. 1 He asked me what my name was. ( noun clause)

He asked me about my name. ( noun phrase)
He asked me about it. (pronoun)
What did he ask me about?

2 He asked me where I lived. ( noun clause)

He asked me about the place of my living. ( noun phrase)

He asked me about it. (pronoun)

What did he ask me about?

3 He asked me when I came.

He asked me about the time of my coming.

What did he ask me about?

4 That he failed in the exam surprised all.

His failure in the exam surprised all.

It surprised all.

What surprised all?

5 We are lucky that we escaped.

We are lucky for the escape.

We are lucky for it.

What are we lucky for?

6 That he will come tomorrow is uncertain.

His coming tomorrow is uncertain.

It is uncertain.
 What is uncertain?

7 I understand why you did not call me.

I understand the reason for your not calling me

I understand it.

What do I understand?

8 She knows how to solve the problem.

She knows the way of solving the problem.

She knows it.

What does she know?

9 I can’t tell you when he will return.

I can’t tell you about the time of his return.

I can’t tell you about it.

What can’t I tell you?

10 I know why you are studying hard.

I know the purpose of your studying hard.

I know it.

What do I know?

Passages for framing Wh—questions

His parents decided not to send him to a special school (A)- a decision he said was very hard for him,
but which may have been the best decision they could have made for him. When Nick was born his
father was so shocked (B) that he left the hospital room to vomit. His distraught mother (C) couldn't
bring herself to hold him until he was four months old.

His disability came without any medical explanation - a rare occurrence called Phocomelia (D)- and
Nick and his parents spent many years asking why this cruel trick would happen to them. 'My
mother was a nurse and she did everything right during pregnancy (E) but she still blamed herself,'
he said.

A What did his parents decide to do?

B What happened when Nick was born?

C Who couldn’t bring herself to hold him until he was four months old?

D What came without any medical explanation?

E When did she do everything right?

On my way home from the bus stop, my trunk had been carried by a porter (A). The problem now
was we couldn't find anyone who could help me carry the trunk to the bus stop (B). At another time
of the year, we would have easily found someone to help me, but now most of the villagers were
busy in the fields (C). Nobody had time to spare for me. In fact, carrying the trunk should not have
been such a worry for me except that my education had made me shun physical labour. After all, I
was a government officer and the idea of people seeing me carry my own luggage (D) was not at all
amusing. Otherwise, for a young man like me it should not have been an issue to carry a 20- kilo
chest on my back (E).

A By whom had my trunk been carried?

B What was the problem now?

C How were most of the villagers?

D What was not at all amusing?

E What should not have been an issue for a young man like me?

Once we had planted those trees, we saw the need for them to understand why we have to have
good governance; (A) so it became important to give them civic education so that they could
understand how we govern ourselves, why we govern ourselves the way we govern ourselves, why
we are managing our environment the way we are managing it (B) . Because we were dealing with
the environment, ( C) we gave them education both in civics and also in environment. That made
them understand clearly why they should take up the responsibility of protecting their environment-
that it was not the responsibility of the government or the responsibility of somebody else to come
and rehabilitate their environment on their own land (D). It's them; it's their (E) responsibility.

A What did we see once we had planted trees?

B What became important?

C Why did we give them education both in civics and also in environment?

D What was not the responsibility of the government or somebody else?

E Whose responsibility is it?

The Second World War broke out in 1939, when I was eight years old. For reasons I have never been
able to understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market (A). I used to collect
the seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street (B). A day's collection would fetch me
the princely sum of one anna (C). My brother -in-law Jallaluddin (D) would tell me stories about the
War which I would later attempt to trace in the headlines in Dinamani. Our area, being isolated, was
completely unaffected by the War. But soon India was forced to join the Allied Forces (E) and
something like a state of emergency was declared.

A What happened for reasons I have never been able to understand?

B What did I use to do?

C How much would a day’s collection fetch me?

D Who would tell me stories about the war?

E What was India forced to do?

Father had provided for my education,(A) and I had been able to realize his dreams. My parents (B)
were truly proud of me. It was through me that they had earned a greater degree of admiration and
respect from the villagers (B) .My father would not like to see me carrying a trunk on my back (C)
would be very hurt if I did so. I concluded that it would be better to let him carry it (D) . Father was
used to carrying luggage anyway. He was stronger and more skilled than me in these matters. I had
never got used to physical labour having stayed in hostels right from my childhood. So, in spite of
my youth and strength, (E) I was physically useless.

A What had father provided for?

B Who were truly proud of me?

C What would father not like to see me doing?

D What did I conclude?

E In spite of what was I physically useless?