Information (Wh-) questions

Present Tense: Be
Questions that ask for information

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Robert F. van Trieste

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
 Why are Information questions
called Wh-questions?
They are called wh-questions because they usually use a question
word that begins with the letters wh.
• Who
• What
• Where
• Why
• When
• Which
However, one important wh-word does not begin with the letters wh.

• How
• How much/many
• How often
 Word order Present Tense be
Information Questions
Rest of
Wh-word am/ is/ are Subject
sentence

When is the party?

Where are you from?

over
Who are those girls
there?
your student
What is
number?
Information question word order versus
statement word order: verb be
am/ is/ Rest of
Wh-word Subject
are sentence

your student
What is
number?
Subject am/ is/ Rest of sentence
are
My student is M0034012.
number
Information question word order versus
statement word order:
Present Tense verb be
Rest of
Wh-word am/ is/ are Subject
sentence

Why are the girls late?

Subject am/ is/ are Rest of sentence

The girls are late because they live in
Caguas.
Information question word order when
subject is unknown: be

Wh-word am/ is/ are Rest of sentence

What is on the blackboard?

Subject am/ is/ are Rest of sentence

Today’s is on the blackboard.
homework
 Answer the question 1

What are those?

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Those are bananas.
 Answer the question 2

What is on the branch? Click on slide to see answer.

A bird is on the branch.

 Answer the question 3

What is that?
It is a statue (of a
lion).

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 Answer the question 4

Where is the bear?

The bear is in a tree.

It is in a tree.

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 Answer the question 5

Who is he?
He is Fidel Castro.

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 Answer the question 6

Where is the
Washington Monument?

The Washington
Monument is in
Washington, D. C.

Click on slide to see answer.

END