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To recap QUASM is Question Word, Auxiliary Verb, Subject and Main verb.

In the question 'where are you from?' from is in the position of the main verb. But from is not a verb. It's a preposition.

So does this question not follow the QUASM principle?

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    Not all interrogatives are of the structure you describe. Your example differs in that it contains the preposition "from", which has "where" as its complement. The only verb in the clause is the auxiliary "are", and since "where" is non-subject it triggers subject-auxiliary inversion. Note that we could also say "You are from where"?
    – BillJ
    Commented Jul 1 at 6:45
  • Some would say that 'are' is not an auxiliary in this usage. Where are you? What is this? Who is Silvia?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 1 at 14:06

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No. The QUASM formula has, like everything in English, exceptions. The main ones are the stative verbs to be, and to have (=to possess), which do not require the periphrastic "do".

Q: What is your job -> I am a policeman.

Q: Who has a penknife? -> I have a penknife

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    There's actually quite a lot of exceptions. "Who" and "what" when used as subjects don't need auxiliaries: "Who ordered the chicken?" "What happened to him?"
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 1 at 13:14

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