Wh- Questions

Form

A wh- question starts with a question word: what, which, who, whose, where, when, why or how (and how much, how many, how long, how often, how far).

After the question word, use yes/no-question word order: question word + auxiliary + subject + main verb, as in “Where do you live?”, “What are you reading?” and “When did she call?” When there is no other auxiliary, add do, does or did, and the main verb goes back to its base form ('Where did you go?', not 'Where did you went?'). The exception is a subject question, where the question word itself is the subject: there is no do/does/did and the word order is the same as a statement ('Who called you?', 'What happened?'). In everyday English a preposition usually goes at the end: “Who are you talking to?”, “What is it made of?”

When to Use It

1. 1

   Use what for things and information, which for a choice from a known set, who for people, whose for the owner, where for places, when for times, and why for reasons

   Which bus goes downtown, the 5 or the 12?

2. 2

   Use how for the way something happens, and how much (uncountable), how many (countable), how long (duration), how often (frequency) and how far (distance)

   How many people are coming?

3. 3

   Add do, does or did after the question word when the question word is not the subject, the main verb is not be, and there is no other auxiliary

   What did you buy? and Where did you go?

4. 4

   Leave out do, does and did when the question word is the subject

   Who wrote this report? and Which team won?

5. 5

   Use What … like? to ask for a description

   What is your new boss like?, and What does it look like? to ask about appearance.

6. 6

   Use How come with statement word order in informal English to ask why

   How come you were late?

Common Mistakes

• Leaving out the auxiliary: write Where do you live?, not Where you live?
• Adding did to a subject question: write Who called you?, not Who did call you? (unless you are stressing it).
• Putting the past tense twice: write Where did you go?, not Where did you went? — did already shows the past.
• Mixing two patterns: write What does it look like? or How does it look?, not How does it look like?
• Using how much with a countable noun: write How many people, not How much people.