Guide to English grammar

23 Inversion in questions

1 In most questions there is inversion of the subject and auxiliary.

Statement You are leaving today. The train has got a buffet. We can sit here.

Question Are you leaving today? Has the train got a buffet? Where can we sit?

If there is more than one auxiliary verb (e.g. could have), then only the first one comes before the subject.

Statement I could have reserved a seat.

Question Could I have reserved a seat?

2 In simple tenses we use the auxiliary verb do.

Statement You like train journeys. Or: You do like train journeys. They arrived at six. Or: They did arrive at six

Question Do you like train journeys? Did they arrive at six?

3 Be on its own as an ordinary verb can also come before the subject.

Statement The train was late. My ticket is somewhere.

Question Was the train late? Where is my ticket?

For short questions, • 38(3).

I thought something might go wrong. -And did it? -I'm afraid so.

For questions without the auxiliary and you, • 42(2).

Leaving already? (= Are you leaving already?)

24 Yes/no questions and wh-questions

1 Ayes/no question can be answered yes or no.
Do you sell rail tickets? -Yes, we do./Certainly.
Will I need to change? -No, it's a direct service./I don't think so.
The question begins with an auxiliary (do, will).

2 A wh-question begins with a question word. There are nine question words: who, whom, what, which, whose, where, when, why and how.

When are you going?
What shall we do?
How does this camera work?

For an overview, • 27.

For intonation in yes/no and wh-questions, • 54(2b).

25 Wh-questions: more details

1 A question word can be subject, object, complement or adverbial. Compare the positive statements (in brackets).

Subject Object Complement Adverbial

Who can give me some help? (Someone can give me some help.): What will tomorrow bring? (Tomorrow will bring something.) Whose is this umbrella? (This umbrella is someone's.) When are you coming back? (You are coming back some time.) Why did everyone laugh? (Everyone laughed for some reason.) Where is this bus going? (This bus is going somewhere.)

A practical guide to English grammar 26

When a question word is the subject, there is no inversion. The word order is the same as in a statement. But when a question word is the object, complement or adverbial (not the subject), then there is inversion of the subject and auxiliary.