Questions with and without auxiliaries

[Africano76]

First I apologise for my English.

Hello! I'm a begginer student of English language. For me is very difficult make questions with WHAT, WHO, WHICH, WHEN, WHERE, HOW MANY...

I need some rules for make questions, because I don't know: (eg) if " Which" is the object (in the question) or if it's the subject.

Could you help me? Thanks

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the board, Africano.

You don't need to apologise for your English. You have a good knowledge of capitalisation and punctuation already.

Your question is very wide-ranging. Please read about interrogative pronouns here:

English Grammar: Interrogative Pronoun

and then come back to us with specific examples of anything that's puzzling you.

Rover

 

[Africano76]

Thanks you're very kind and I add "Englis Languge" to my favourite webs

I don't know when the "Interrogative Pronouns" are the subject or the object in the question.

Object/ Subject
Eg: Whta did you do last night? or What happened to you?

Which CD did he buy? or Which country won the Eurovision Song Contest?

Who did you go with? or Who writes their songs?

I think that Where, When, How many ... We normaly do use an auxiliary (do, does, did) but the problem is when I must to do a question whit Who, Which, What ...
Are there any rules to do theese questions?

Africano

 

[Barb_D]

You don't need the auxiliary verb when you are asking about the subject.

This CD is great -- This CD is the subject. Which CD is great?
I bought this CD -- This CD is the object. Which CD did you buy?


This person won the contest -- This person is the subject. Who won the contest?
I chose this person -- This person is the object. Who did you choose?

That should help for many situations.

 

[TheParser]

Thanks you're very kind and I add "Englis Languge" to my favourite webs

I don't know when the "Interrogative Pronouns" are the subject or the object in the question.

Object/ Subject
Eg: Whta did you do last night? or What happened to you?

Which CD did he buy? or Which country won the Eurovision Song Contest?

Who did you go with? or Who writes their songs?

I think that Where, When, How many ... We normaly do use an auxiliary (do, does, did) but the problem is when I must to do a question whit Who, Which, What ...
Are there any rules to do theese questions?

Africano

*****NOT A TEACHER ***** ONLY MY OPINION *****


Africano,

The teachers have given you excellent answers. May I give you

my opinion? I realize that this is a very difficult matter for

learners. Keep studying hard and asking questions. Then you will

soon understand it.

First, it is necessary to understand the difference between subject and

object.

I = subject; love = verb; Mona = object.

BUT

Mona = subject; loves = verb; me = object.

I am sure that you have already studied this in school, right?

*****

"English has the largest vocabulary."

Please name the subject, verb, and object.

You are correct: English/ has/ the largest vocabulary.

If you erase the word in the subject space, you get:

_____ has the largest vocabulary.

Now let's fill the space:

What language/ Which language has the largest vocabulary?

Therefore: "What/which language" is the SUBJECT.

***** Understanding the object is a little more difficult.


"I speak English."

What are the subject, verb, and object?

Correct! They are I/ speak/ English.

If you do not know what language I speak, what would you ask

me? Probably: What language/which language DO you speak?

Can you identify the subject? (A little help: in your mind -- never

when you speak -- put those words in regular subject/verb/object

order: You/ do speak/ what language?)

You = subject

do speak = verb

what language = OBJECT

*****

Who lives with you? Subject or object?

Yes, it is the subject because we can erase the word "who" and put

the answer in the blank space:

Mona/My friend/My dog lives with me.

Who(m) DO you live with? Subject or object?

In your mind, put that sentence into "regular" order:

You/ do live/ with who(m)?

I live with Mona/my friend/my dog.

I = subject

live= verb

with Mona/my friend/my dog = OBJECT (of the preposition "with")

P. S. Don't worry about the word "whom." You will study it later in your

English lessons. Just use "who."

***** Are the capitalized words subjects or objects? *****


(1) WHO was the first American president?

(2) WHO hit you?

(3) WHO(M) did you see?

(4) WHAT VEGETABLE looks like a heart?

(5) WHAT languages can you speak?

(6) WHICH BUS does Martha take home every day?

(7) WHICH COUNTRY is the largest (in land) in the world?

Answers: (1) subject. (2) subject. (3) object. (4) subject.
(5) object. (6) object. (7) subject.


***** NOT A TEACHER ***** ONLY MY OPINION