QUESTIONS

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

What would be different if you didn't know your own age?

Question words

Question words are also called wh questions because they include the letters 'W' and 'H'.

Question words	Meaning	Examples
who	person	Who's that? That's Nancy.
where	place	Where do you live? In Boston
why	reason	Why do you sleep early? Because I've got to get up early
when	time	When do you go to work? At 7:00
how	manner	How do you go? By car
what	object, idea or action	What do you do? I am an engineer
which	choice	Which one do you prefer? The red one.
whose	possession	Whose is this book? It's Alan's.
whom	object of the verb	Whom did you meet? I met the manager.
what kind	description	What kind of music do you like? I like quiet songs
what time	time	What time did you come home?
how many	quantity (countable)	How many students are there? There are twenty.
how much	amount, price (uncountable)	How much time have we got? Ten minutes
how long	duration, length	How long did you stay in that hotel? For two weeks.
how often	frequency	How often do you go to the gym? Twice a week.
how far	distance	How far is your school? It's one mile far.
how old	age	How old are you? I'm 16.
how come	reason	How come I didn't see you at the party?

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Uses of like in questions

The word like is used in different ways to ask questions. Such questions with like may have different meanings.
Like may be used to ask questions about:

• Personality or the characteristics of something.
• Preferences.
• Physical appearance.
• Hobbies.

The word like in these question is used either as a verb or as a preposition.

Talking about personality or the characteristics of something

Like can be used to ask about personality or the characteristics of something:
Example:

• What's your friend like? → He's nice.
• What's the house like? → It's huge.
• What was the weather like? → It was sunny.

Like in the above examples is used as a preposition.

Talking about about preferences

Like can be used to talk about preferences.
Examples:

• What would you like to eat? → Fish, please.
• What would you like to do next weekend? → Go sightseeing.

Like is used in these questions as a verb.

Talking about physical appearance or resemblance

Like may be used in questions to ask about physical appearance.
Examples:

• What does he look like? → He is tall and has got black long hair.
• What does she look like? → She is beautiful. She has brown eyes and short black hair.
• Who do you look like? → I look just like my father.
• Who does she look like? → She looks like her grandmother.

Like in the above questions is used as a preposition.

Talking about hobbies

To ask about hobbies, use like in questions as follows:

• What does he like doing? → He likes singing.
• What do you like doing? → I like reading.

Like in these examples is used as a verb.

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British or American?

Tag questions are an example of a big difference between British and American English. Language researchers using computer data found that British English speakers used tag questions nine times as often as American English speakers!
Changing question intonation
In Understanding and Using English Grammar, Betty Azar says that the intonation (change in pitch) shows the purpose of a tag question.
1* If the speaker is trying to confirm information, the tone rises:

- Adam works at VOA, doesn't he?

2* Speakers saying something that they are almost certain the listener will agree with use a falling intonation.

- It's a nice day, isn't it?

We leave you with a famous line from Carly Simon, in the song You're So Vain:

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? don't you?

Short questions: To begin a sentence.

Is he a sports fan?

yeah

Is he? Does he like sport? (he's not sure, and is trying to confirm information)

yeah, I'm sure.

This looks perfect! He loves football.

Does he? I'm not sure. What else do you have?

Yeah, of course. He was talking about football last time we saw him. We'll take that.

Was he? I don't remember that. 

TAG QUESTIONS

Definition

A tag question is a grammatical structure. It refers to a declarative statement or an imperative that are modified to become a question by adding an interrogative fragment.

Use

Tag questions:

• can be considered as an indicator of politeness, emphasis, or irony;
• they may suggest confidence or lack of confidence;
• they may be confrontational or tentative;
• in legal settings, tag questions can be found in leading question.

Form

Tag questions vary according to different factors such as the choice of auxiliary, the negation.
The structure is generally as follows:

Affirmative statement	Negative Tag
he likes him	doesn't he?
Negative statement	Affirmative Tag
she doesn't care about him	does she?

Examples

Statements

Affirmative statement	Negative tag
He is excellent at languages,	isn't he?
You were late,	weren't you?
They are working on a new project,	aren't they?
She writes good poems,	doesn't she?
We have worked hard to earn this money,	haven't we?
He called her,	didn't he?
You should see a doctor,	shouldn't you?
He can drive,	can't he?
You will help us,	won't you?

Negative statement	Affirmative tag
He isn't an athlete,	is he?
They weren't early,	were they?
You aren't writing a new book,	are you?
She doesn't work in a hospital,	does she?
He hasn't found the solution,	has he?
You didn't visit the museum,	did you?
We shouldn't sleep late,	should we?
You won't tell her,	will you?

Imperatives

Imperative	Tag
keep quiet,	won't you ? will you? would you? could you?