Question Words Review

Hook

Who, what, where, when, why, how: you have used all of these question words in this course. Now let’s put them together, because good questions are the key to every conversation, form and interview in English.

Notice

  • Who is that? — My teacher.
  • What do you do? — I’m a nurse.
  • Where do you live? — In London.
  • When is your birthday? — In May.
  • Why are you tired? — Because I worked late.
  • How do you get to work? — By bus.
  • How much is it? · How many sisters do you have? · How old are you? · How often do you swim?

What comes after the question word: the subject or the verb?

Rule

WordAsks aboutWordAsks about
Whoa personHowthe way / manner
Whata thing, informationHow muchprice / uncountable amount
Wherea placeHow manycountable number
When / What timea timeHow oldage
Whya reason (answer: Because…)How oftenfrequency

Word order: question word + be / do / does / did / can + subject + verb:

  • Where are you from? (be) · Where do you live? (present simple) · Where did you go? (past) · What are you doing? (continuous) · What can you do?

Watch Out

  • ✗ Where you live? → ✓ Where do you live?
  • ✗ What time the class starts? → ✓ What time does the class start?
  • ✗ Why you are late? → ✓ Why are you late?
  • ✗ Where did you went? → ✓ Where did you go?

Practice

  1. ___ is your best friend? (person)
  2. ___ are you happy? (reason)
  3. ___ is the party? (time)
  4. ___ do you work? (place)
  5. ___ old are you?
  6. ___ often do you cook?
  7. Correct it: “What you did yesterday?”
  8. Write a question with how about transport.
Show the answers
  1. Who
  2. Why
  3. When
  4. Where
  5. How
  6. How
  7. What did you do yesterday?
  8. How do you get to work? (your own answer)

Your Turn

Write eight questions for an interview with a new classmate, using eight different question words or phrases. Mix tenses: present, past and can. Then answer them yourself.

Connect

Get the word order right in our Sentence Builder.

Try our Sentence Builder →

Our Grammar Quiz has A1 questions on question words.

Try our Grammar Quiz →

CEFR A1 — Spoken Interaction: I can ask and answer simple questions using all the common question words.

Azizul Hakim
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