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How can I change this sentences to wh question form please

The change was for 5$.(how much)

The car is across the street from the house.(where)

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  • 2
    Can you at least make an effort? What's the point of us doing your homework?
    – Ingmar
    Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 17:20
  • 1
    What are you having trouble with, rozz?
    – user230
    Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 17:21
  • Usually, you take the verb of the sentence and place it after the wh question leader...
    – Jim
    Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 17:26
  • Thats wht im doing im trying to learn @ingmar 56
    – rozz
    Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 18:20
  • Then can I say howmuch did the check was for? @Jim 54
    – rozz
    Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 18:22

4 Answers 4

7

A basic sentence consists of a declarative clause:

I like ice cream.

A direct question consists of an interrogative clause:

Do I like ice cream?

To turn a basic declarative clause into an interrogative clause, we need to do two things:

  1. Subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI). Move the subject after the auxiliary verb.

    Sometimes a clause doesn't have an auxiliary verb. When this happens, we add the auxiliary do.

  2. Wh-fronting. If an interrogative phrase is present, move it to the front of the clause.

    An interrogative phrase can be a wh-word alone (where, why, when, what, who, which), or a wh-word in combination with other words (what books, whose eggs, how much).

As we'll see later, there is an exception; we don't do either of these things if an interrogative phrase is in subject position.


Example 1

  1. Start with a declarative clause:

    I like ice cream.

  2. Change the period . into a question mark ?:

    I like ice cream?

  3. There's no auxiliary, so we'll add do:

    I do like ice cream?

  4. Now we can move the subject "I" after the auxiliary "do":

    Do I like ice cream?


Example 2

  1. Start with a declarative clause:

    My brother is in New York.

  2. Change the period . into a question mark ?:

    My brother is in New York?

  3. Replace the locative complement ("in New York") with the wh-word "where":

    My brother is where?

  4. Move the wh-word to the front:

    Where my brother is?

  5. And move the subject ("my brother") after the auxiliary ("is"):

    Where is my brother?

In modern grammar, be is considered an auxiliary even if it's the only verb in the clause. Since this sentence already has an auxiliary, adding do is unnecessary.


Example 3

  1. Start with a declarative clause:

    You drove to New York.

  2. Change the period . into a question mark ?:

    You drove to New York?

  3. Replace the object of the preposition phrase "to New York" with the wh-word "where":

    You drove to where?

  4. Move the wh-word to the front:

    Where you drove to?

  5. There's no auxiliary, so we have to add do:

    Where you did drive to?

  6. And move the subject ("you") after the auxiliary ("did"):

    Where did you drive to?

We could have also chosen to replace the entire preposition phrase "to New York" with the wh-word "where", which would give us "You drove where?", turning into the interrogative clause "Where did you drive?".


Example 4

  1. Start with a declarative clause:

    The apples cost $5.00 each.

  2. Change the period . into a question mark ?:

    The apples cost $5.00 each?

  3. Replace "$5.00 each" with the interrogative phrase "how much"?

    The apples cost how much?

  4. Move the interrogative phrase to the front:

    How much the apples cost?

  5. Add the auxiliary do:

    How much the apples do cost?

  6. And move the subject ("the apples") after the auxiliary ("do"):

    How much do the apples cost?

In this example, our interrogative phrase had two words ("how much"), in contrast to the earlier examples where the interrogative phrase consisted of only one wh-word.

Last, we'll look at one very different example.


Example 5

  1. Start with a declarative clause:

    I shot Mr. Burns.

  2. Change the period . into a question mark ?:

    I shot Mr. Burns?

  3. Replace the subject with the wh-word "who":

    Who shot Mr. Burns?

When the interrogative phrase is in subject position, forming a question is much simpler. You don't do subject-auxiliary inversion, so you don't need an auxiliary verb like do. And you don't need to move anything to the front, because it's already there.


I won't do your homework for you, but hopefully you can figure it out based on the examples and explanation above.

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  • It is a very good explanation, are you a teacher? Commented Nov 26, 2015 at 15:24
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I'll try to give you some general guidance here; the wh words that you're asking about are pronouns, specifically interrogative pronouns in questions.

In your examples, they're used to represent the objects of prepositions, but they can also represent direct objects.

You rearrange the syntax so that the pronoun comes first. Questions using these pronouns are constructed Object-Verb-Subject.

My name is John. My name is what. What is my name?

My house is over there. My house is [over] where. Where is my house?

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You should provide, at least, your best guess to help me/us better form an answer.

There are many rules and exceptions when forming WH questions. Sometimes you can substitute the relevant term with the WH term. For example, "Mike ran to the store." An interrogative is: "Mike ran to where?" Another is: "Who ran to the store?"

With this as our guide, we can answer the first problem. You want to know how much of something, a noun expressing an amount. The only nouns are "change" and "$5." Only "$5" expresses an amount.

Declaration: The change was for $5. (how much)

We substitute $5 for "how much."

Interrogative: The change was for how much?

Note: The problem is ambiguous. The proper interrogative might be: "How much was the change for?" But, this would sound a little too informal. Better would be: "For how much was the change?" This format would follow the next rule, making it simple to master, but requires a rule about what to do with the preposition "for." Also, in truth, I am not sure what is meant here by "for $5" because the phrase also contains an ambiguity.

For "to be" (is/are) sentences, you can usually ask the WH followed by the appropriate declination of the verb "to be" followed by the subject. For example, "Mike is at the store." An interrogative is: "Where is Mike?" or "Who is Mike?"

This guide helps us answer the second problem.

Declaration: The car is across the street from the house.(where)

What is the "to be" form here? Is. What is the subject? The car. That gives us:

Interrogative: Where is the car?

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  • 2
    Nice answer, but I think it should be How much was the change [for]? That would be standard question syntax. The change was how much? is more often said in disbelief (bold=emphatic speech). Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 22:39
  • 1
    Thanks, John Q. Agreed. The statement and question would have made more sense if the word "for" was omitted. I wonder if it was a transcription typo.
    – Scotty
    Commented Dec 9, 2013 at 3:33
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If I'm right about what you wanted to ask:

The change was for $5

Would be

How much was the change?

And

The car is across the street from the house

Would be

Where is the car?

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