PREPOSITIONS IN QUESTIONS

1.   We often put a preposition (with, at, for etc.) at the end of a question with Who...? or What...?, especially in spoke English.

Examples:

a.   Who did you go with? (More natural than With whom did you go?)

b.   Who is that letter for?
c.   What are you looking at?
d.   What's she talking about?

2.   We also ask questions with Where ... from? and Where ... to?

a.   Where do you come from? (Or Where are you from?)
b.   Where shall I send the letter to?

3.   In conversation, we often ask short questions with Who/What/Where + preposition.

Examples:

a.   'I'm going camping.' 'Who with?'

b.   'Peter wants to talk to you.' 'What about?'

PREPOSITIONS AT THE END OF QUESTIONS

When a question word is the object of a preposition, the preposition usually comes at the end of the clause, especially in an informal style.

• What are you looking for? (More natural than ‘For what are looking?’)
• Who is this present for? (For whom is this present? is extremely formal.)
• Who were you speaking to? (NOT To whom were you speaking?)
• Which pictures are you talking about?
• What are you laughing at?
• Who put the cat in?
• Who turned the lights off?

Prepositions come at the end of clauses in indirect wh-questions and what-clauses which are not questions.

Tell me what you are looking for. (NOT Tell me for what you are looking.)

What a lot of trouble I have gotten into! (NOT Into what a lot of trouble I have gotten.)

Some questions consist of simply a question word and preposition.

• What with?
• Who for?
• What about?

Note that this structure is unusual when there is a noun with the question word.

With what money? (NOT What money with?)

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions.

1. What are you crying ————–?
2. Who shall I give this ——————?
3. What are you waiting ——————?
4. Which writer were you talking ——————?
5. Which candidate have you voted ——————-?

Answers

1. for
2. to
3. for
4. about
5. for

http://www.englishpractice.com/grammar/prepositions-questions/

TAG QUESTIONS

You speak English, don't you?

A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. The whole sentence is a "tag question", and the mini-question at the end is called a "question tag".

A "tag" is something small that we add to something larger. For example, the little piece of cloth added to a shirt showing size or washing instructions is a tag.

We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for confirmation. They mean something like: "Am I right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very common in English.

The basic structure:

statement	question tag
+ Positive statement,	- negative tag?
Snow is white,	isn't it?
- Negative statement,	+ Positive tag?
You don't like me,	do you?

Notice that the question tag repeats the auxiliary verb (or main verb when be) from the statement and changes it to negative or positive.

A question tag is the "mini-question" at the end. A tag question is the whole sentence

Present continuous	We're working tomorrow, aren't we?
Past simple 'be'	It was cold yesterday, wasn't it?
Past simple other verbs	He went to the party last night, didn't he?
Past continuous	We were waiting at the station, weren't we?
Present perfect	They've been to Japan, haven't they?
Present perfect continuous	She's been studying a lot recently, hasn't she?
Past perfect	He had forgotten his wallet, hadn't he?
Past perfect continuous	We'd been working, hadn't we?
Future simple	She'll come at six, won't she?
Future continuous	They'll be arriving soon, won't they?
Future perfect	They'll have finished before nine, won't they?
Future perfect continuous	She'll have been cooking all day, won't she?
Modals	He can help, can't he?
Modals	John must stay, mustn't he?

Present simple 'be'	We aren't late, are we?
Present simple other verbs	She doesn't have any children, does she?
Present continuous	The bus isn't coming, is it?
Past simple 'be'	She wasn't at home yesterday, was she?
Past simple other verbs	They didn't go out last Sunday, did they?
Past continuous	You weren't sleeping, were you?
Present perfect	She hasn't eaten all the cake, has she?
Present perfect continuous	He hasn't been running in this weather, has he?
Past perfect	We hadn't been to London before, had we?
Past perfect continuous	You hadn't been sleeping, had you?
Future simple	They won't be late, will they?
Future continuous	He'll be studying tonight, won't he?
Future perfect	She won't have left work before six, will she?
Future perfect continuous	He won't have been travelling all day, will he?
Modals	She can't speak Arabic, can she?
Modals	They mustn't come early, must they?

NEGATIVE QUESTIONS

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF NEGATIVES QUESTIONS:

• CONTRACTED
• UNCONTRACTED

Contracted negative question

Word orden: auxiliary verb +n't + subject

• Why don't you listen to me?
• Don't you understand?
• Hasn't she any friends to help her?
• Aren't they ready?

Uncontracted negative questions

Uncontracted negative questions are more formal than contracted negative questions.

Word order: auxiliary verb + subject + not

• Why do you not listen to me?
• Do you not understand?
• Has she not any friends to help her?
• Are they not ready?

Contracted negative questions beginning with Won’t you …? Wouldn’t you…? or Why don’t you …? are very common in polite requests, invitations, offers, complaints and criticisms.

• Wouldn’t you like a cup of coffee?
• Why don’t you come and stay with us?

In a reply to a negative question, yes suggests a positive answer, and no suggests a negative answer.

• ‘Haven’t you written to her?’ ‘Yes.’ (= I have written to her.)
• ‘Haven’t you told her about us?’ ‘No.’ (= I haven’t told her about you.)

WHO, WHOM, WHOSE

Subjects, Objects and Possessive Forms

To understand how to use "who," "whom," and "whose," you first have to understand the difference between subjects, objects, and possessive forms.

Subjects do an action:

• He loves movies.
• She goes to school.
• We enjoy Chinese food.

Objects receive an action:

• The teachers like him.
• Thomas knows her.
• The actor smiled at us.

Possessive forms tell us the person something belongs to:

• His bike is broken.
• I like her new book.
• The teacher graded our homework.

"Who" is a Subject Pronoun

"Who" is a subject pronoun like "he," "she" and "we" in the examples above. We use "who" to ask which person does an action or which person is a certain way.

Examples:

• Who made the birthday cake?
• Who is in the kitchen?
• Who is going to do the dishes?

"Whom" is an Object Pronoun

"Whom" is an object pronoun like "him," "her" and "us." We use "whom" to ask which person receives an action.

Examples:

• Whom are you going to invite?
• Whom did he blame for the accident?
• Whom did he hire to do the job?

"Whose" is a Possessive Pronoun

"Whose" is a possessive pronoun like "his," "her" and "our." We use "whose" to find out which person something belongs to.

Examples:

• Whose camera is this?
• Whose dog is barking outside?
• Whose cell phone keeps ringing?

"Who," "Whom" and "Whose" in Indirect Questions

The sentence below contains an example of an indirect question:

• I don't know whom he invited.

Such sentences usually start with a phrase such as: "I am not sure" or "He doesn't know" or "We don't care." Just ignore the first part of the sentence and look at the indirect question when deciding whether to use "who," "whom" or "whose." Ask yourself if the indirect question requires a subject, object, or possessive form.

Examples:

• He doesn't know who the boss of the company is. subject of the indirect question
• I don't care whom you invite. object of the indirect question
• She isn't sure whose car that is. "Whose" shows possession of car.

"Who," "Whom" and "Whose" in Adjective Clauses

The sentence below contains an example of an adjective clause:

• I know the man who won the contest.

Adjective clauses are used to describe a noun in the main sentence. In the example above, the adjective clause tells us about "the man." Just ignore the main sentence and look at the adjective clause when deciding whether to use "who," "whom" or "whose." Ask yourself if the adjective clause requires a subject, object, or possessive form.

Examples:

• We knew the actress who starred in the movie. subject of adjective clause
• They hired the man whom we interviewed last week. object of adjective clause
• She knew the family whose house we bought. "Whose" shows possession of house.

"Whom" Less Common

The form "whom" is becoming less and less common in English. Many native English speakers think "whom" sounds outdated or strange. This trend is particularly common in the United States. Especially when combined with prepositions, most people prefer to use "who" as the object pronoun. To most native English speakers, the examples below sound quite natural.

Examples:

• Who did you come to the party with?
• I don't know who he gave the book to.
• That is the woman who I was talking to.
• Who did you get that from?
• Do you have any idea who he sold his car to?
• That is the person who I got the information from.

http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/who_whom.html

NEGATIVES QUESTIONS

We use negative questions to show surprise, in exclamations and when we expect the listener to agree with us.

1. TO SHOW SURPRISE

Didn't you hear the bell? I rang it four times.

2. IN EXCLAMATIONS

Doesn't that house look beautiful! (= that house looks really beautiful)

3. WHEN WE EXPECT THE LISTENER TO AGREE WITH US

"Haven't we met somewhere before?" "Yes, I think we have."

NOTICE THE MEANING OF YES AND NO IN ANSWERS TO NEGATIVE QUESTIONS:

Didn't Roberto pass his exams? Yes. (= Yes, he passed them.) No. (= No, he didn't pass them.)

NOTICE THE WORD ORDER IN NEGATIVE QUESTIONS WITH WHY...?:

Why didn't you lock the door? (not why you didn't lock) Why don't we go out to Harley's restaurant? (not why we don't go) Why can't you help me? (not why you can't help me) Why wasn't Claudia invited to the party? (not why Claudia wasn't)