Asking a question in English correctly

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symaa

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Good afternoon

Really I still have problem in asking question, I am confused:-? whether I should add the verb to do or just keep the verb to be or to have without adding the verb to do,for example sometimes I add the verb to do but it is not necessary . So,how can I ask a question correctly? I whish that I'll have an answer which remove my confusion.

Thank you in advance
Regards
 
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emsr2d2

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Good afternoon

Really I still have problem in asking question, I am confused:-? whether I should add the verb to do or just keep the verb to be or to have without adding the verb to do,for example sometimes I add the verb to do but it is not necessary . So,how can I ask a question correctly? I whish that I'll have an answer which remove my confusion.

Thank you in advance
Regards

Can you give us an example of a question that you are having trouble constructing please?
 

TheParser

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Good afternoon

Really I still have problem in asking question, I am confused:-? whether I should add the verb to do or just keep the verb to be or to have without adding the verb to do,for example sometimes I add the verb to do but it is not necessary . So,how can I ask a question correctly? I whish that I'll have an answer which remove my confusion.

Thank you in advance
Regards


NOT A TEACHER


DEAR FELLOW MEMBER SYMAA:


(1) Yes, many learners are confused about how to ask a question in

English.

(2) Before I forget: here is a "secret":

Sometimes you do not have to ask a question. You can simply

make a statement and let your voice rise higher and higher.

(a) For example, if you cannot ask "Do you speak English?," you

can say: Excuse me. You speak ENGLISH?

(b) And if you cannot ask "Is tomorrow the test?," you can

say: Excuse me. Tomorrow is the TEST?

OF course, you would do this only in an emergency.

(3) Obviously, in one post it is impossible to explain fully how

questions are made, but one thing may be helpful:

If you are using the verb "to be," forget using "do."

For a question involving "to be," you need only

repeat the form of "to be":

You are a student. ARE you a student?

Tomorrow will be Monday. WILL tomorrow BE Monday?

They were eating. WERE they eating?

*****

If you are using any OTHER verb, you need to use our old

friends "do," "does," "did," "has," etc.:

They swim. DO they swim?

She swims. DOES she swim?

She swam. DID she swim?

She has swum. HAS she swum?


(4) Just keep posting your questions here, and little by little

you will understand how to make questions.


Respectfully yours,


James
 

Raymott

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Good afternoon

Really I still have problem in asking question, I am confused:-? whether I should add the verb to do or just keep the verb to be or to have without adding the verb to do,for example sometimes I add the verb to do but it is not necessary . So, how can I ask a question correctly? I whish that I'll have an answer which remove my confusion.

Thank you in advance
Regards
There is no simple answer.
"Have you a cat?", "Do you have a cat?", and "Have you got a cat?" all mean the same thing. If it were a simple matter of adding a question phrase such as "Est-ce que" before a statement, you would have had your comprehensive answer by now. But English questions don't work that way.

I suggest that you going to have to put some effort into making your own summary of the different ways English questions can be asked - if necessary from the partial answers you get from different people and from your own reading.

By the way, the one question you did ask above is correct, so you can add that to your list of correct question constructions.
 

symaa

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Can you give us an example of a question that you are having trouble constructing please?
ok, I 'll post an example as soon as possible.
Thank you,
 

symaa

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NOT A TEACHER


DEAR FELLOW MEMBER SYMAA:


(1) Yes, many learners are confused about how to ask a question in

English.

(2) Before I forget: here is a "secret":

Sometimes you do not have to ask a question. You can simply

make a statement and let your voice rise higher and higher.

(a) For example, if you cannot ask "Do you speak English?," you

can say: Excuse me. You speak ENGLISH?

(b) And if you cannot ask "Is tomorrow the test?," you can

say: Excuse me. Tomorrow is the TEST?

OF course, you would do this only in an emergency.

(3) Obviously, in one post it is impossible to explain fully how

questions are made, but one thing may be helpful:

If you are using the verb "to be," forget using "do."

For a question involving "to be," you need only

repeat the form of "to be":

You are a student. ARE you a student?

Tomorrow will be Monday. WILL tomorrow BE Monday?

They were eating. WERE they eating?

*****

If you are using any OTHER verb, you need to use our old

friends "do," "does," "did," "has," etc.:

They swim. DO they swim?

She swims. DOES she swim?

She swam. DID she swim?

She has swum. HAS she swum?


(4) Just keep posting your questions here, and little by little

you will understand how to make questions.


Respectfully yours,


James
Thank you sir James, you are always very helpful,
Thanks a lot for your nice explanation.Yes, you are right in speaking, you can just change your intonation, but in writing, here I have problem.
Thank you again and again,
My thankfulness and appreciation
 
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emsr2d2

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Thank you sir James,you are always very helpful,
Thanks a lot for your good explanation.Yes,you are right in speaking ,you can just change your intonation,but in writing ,here I have problem.
Regards

Please review your use of commas in your post above. You may wish to edit it remembering the following ... no space before a comma, always a space after one.
 

symaa

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There is no simple answer.
"Have you a cat?", "Do you have a cat?", and "Have you got a cat?" so there is a slight difference ,as I see , the third example is in the present perfect .So, "Have you a cat?", "Do you have a cat?"are the same?, all mean the same thing. If it were a simple matter of adding a question phrase such as "Est-ce que" before a statement, you would have had your comprehensive answer by now. But English questions don't work that way.

I suggest that you going to have to put some effort into making your own summary of the different ways English questions can be asked - if necessary from the partial answers you get from different people and from your own reading.

By the way, the one question you did ask above is correct, so you can add that to your list of correct question constructions.:-Dok, I am not ver bad in asking question, but I have some problems
Thank you very much for your reply,
Regards
 
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symaa

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Please review your use of commas in your post above. You may wish to edit it remembering the following ... no space before a comma, always a space after one.
Ok, thank you very much for your important notice, I"m going to edit my post.
All the best
 

symaa

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Can you give us an example of a question that you are having trouble constructing please?
This is some examples:

Were you there all the time?/did you are there all the time?
Did she have to do the shoping yesterday?/had she do the shoping yesterday?
do you have a laptop? Have you a laptop?
sometimes verb to do is essential but sometimes is not, and we just inverse the subject and the verb.:-?
 

symaa

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Another example:
Have they the same role? do they have the same role?:-?
 

Verona_82

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symaa

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Not a teacher.

Please have a look at these threads:

https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/123547-have-you-do-you-have.html
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/...141644-have-you-clue-have-you-got-do-you.html

Please note 'have got" is not the present perfect of 'get' in "Have you got a cat?". It is a present tense of have. In this case have got means exactly the same as have.
Thank you very much, I'll see these threads, but I hope that someone answer my previous questions, are they right?
 

Rover_KE

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Were you there all the time? :tick:
Did you are there all the time? :cross:

Did she have to do the shopping yesterday? :tick:
Had she to do the shopping yesterday? :tick:

Do you have a laptop? :tick:
Have you a laptop? :tick:

Rover
 

Rover_KE

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Have they the same role? :tick:
Do they have the same role? :tick:

Rover
 

symaa

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Thank you very much,but there is no difference or a stable rule:-??
Thank you again for your answer,
Best regards
 

crazYgeeK

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Thank you very much,but there is no difference or a stable rule:-??
Thank you again for your answer,
Best regards

Why don't you satisfy with some rules fairly general given by TheParser in the first post of him in this thread? I remember he suggested you that when using the verbs not "to be", you have to place some auxiliary verb at the beginning of the question such as "do" (in the present tense and the subject is "they", "we", "you" or a plural), "did" (in the past tense, the subject is whatever), "does" (in the present tense and the subject is "he/she", "it" or not a plural) ... I think you are lacking of the base knowledge about "tenses", "auxiliary verbs", "full verbs and "modal auxiliary verbs"!
Why don't you buy yourself some basic English grammar book or do some search with the above terms I have given?
Try learning as a real student, you will succeed!
Thank you!
I'M AN IT STUDENT BEING INTERESTED IN ENGLISH!
 

symaa

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Why don't you satisfy with some rules fairly general given by TheParser in the first post of him in this thread? No, I am happy for his reply, and I thank him,he is very helpfulI remember he suggested you that when using the verbs not "to be", you have to place some auxiliary verb at the beginning of the question such as "do" (in the present tense and the subject is "they", "we", "you" or a plural), "did" (in the past tense, the subject is whatever), "does" (in the present tense and the subject is "he/she", "it" or not a plural) ... I think you are lacking of the base knowledge about "tenses", "auxiliary verbs", "full verbs and "modal auxiliary verbs"!I do not think so, but you are right. anyway I 'll try to improve my English as much as I could.
Why don't you buy yourself some basic English grammar book or do some search with the above terms I have given? I have many books......+00:-Dbut unfortunately I did not find what I am looking for.
Try learning as a real student, you will succeed!Thank you very much
Thank you!Thank you again for your reply......
I'M AN IT STUDENT BEING INTERESTED IN ENGLISH!All the best for you

There is a slight difference ,look at this quotes:
Have they a house in the country?
Do they have a house in the country?

The two versions mean exactly the same thing, but the first now sounds rather archaic and very formal


Have you any coffee? ->more common for British English
Do you have any coffee? ->more common for American English
My grandfather still says "Have you any...?" but he's 89 years old, and a lot of his sentence construction is very old-fashioned.
So, in writing I shoul not use this form for example:have you......

Respectfully yours,
Syma

 
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5jj

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So,in writing I should not use this form for example:have you......
That is probably sensible, but 'have you' is the only way to ask the question when HAVE is an auxiliary:

Have you ever been to China?
Has he got time to do that?
 

symaa

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That is probably sensible, but 'have you' is the only way to ask the question when HAVE is an auxiliary:

Have you ever been to China?
Has he got time to do that?

Okay, thank you for your reply my teacher, but I am still confused.

Respectfully yours
 
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