QUESTIONS: Introduction

We asked our students to ask themselves ten questions and then to answer their questions.  We asked them to write down their ten questions and then their ten answers.

Here are some of the questions they asked themselves.  How would you answer their questions?What ten questions would you ask yourself?

  • How do I see myself in the future?

  • What is my greatest accomplishment so far?

  • What is my greatest obstacle presently in my life?

  • What are the most positive and influential comments I have heard about myself?

  • Why do I fear speaking in front of a large group of people?

Today we begin our chapter, "Questions".  It is primarily for beginners and lower-intermediate learners of English.

Before you begin the activities BELOW, you may want to study the podcast and initial grammar lesson, He's Always Talking about Grammar , also in our Library.

What Is a Question?  Part 1

What Is a Question?

In English, a sentence may be either a statement or a question. 

A question is something that you ask because you want or need information.  When you ask a question, you hope to get an answer.  You hope to receive some type of response.

There are three types of questions in English: direct, quoted, and indirect.

What Is a Direct Question?

What Is a Direct Question?

A direct question requires special sentence structure and verb forms.  A standard direct question also has to be punctuated with a question mark (?):

  • What is the secret to staying young?

Do you know the answer to this above question?

What Is a Quoted Question?

What Is a Quoted Question?

A quoted question uses the original speaker's exact words but places them within a larger statement.

  • I asked my grandfather, "What is the secret to staying young?"

Compare the sentence structure (syntax), verb forms and puncutation of the direct question to the quoted question.

What Is an Indirect Question?

What Is an Indirect (or reported) Question?

An indirect question is sometimes also called a reported question.

It is a question embedded within a statement and does not require the speaker's exact words.

  • She asked her grandfather what the secret to staying young is.

  We will address the topic of Indirect Questions in detail in a separate chapter, Indirect Speech.

Warmup

Which of the three sentences below is the simple question? Which is the quoted question? Which contains the reported (or indirect) question?

1.  He asked me how I cheer myself up.

2.  How do I cheer myself up?

3.  He asked me, "How do you cheer yourself up?

You will find the answers to the exercises above in our "Answer Key".

Next...Punctuating a Question

In our next lesson, we will discuss punctuating a question.

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