Questions tagged [interrogatives]
This tag is for inquiries about the interrogative grammatical form, element, or construction, such as would be employed in the formation of a question.
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1answer
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Can I add ‘if’ before ‘they’ in the sentence?
Did you know they were coming by air?
Can I add ‘if’ before ‘they’ in the sentence above and is it usual to delete ‘if’ before ‘they’ ?
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1answer
84 views
Difference between 'I don't know how can I' and 'I don't know how I can'?
I am confused between
I don't know how can I do this
and
I don't know how I can do this
Can anyone explain difference between these sentences?
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1answer
28 views
interrogative adverbs used like interrogative pronouns
Why are the interrogative adverbs "where" and "when" used like interrogative pronouns in the sentences below?
Where are you from?
From when to when did you live there?
Since when is Jane your sister?
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1answer
43 views
'How much is the world so hard to live in, that some people give up their lives?' Is this sentence correct?
I want to express
'The world is so hard to live in, that some people give up their lives.'
as an interrogative form, so that I can emphasize the meaning of it. Please let me know if this ...
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1answer
13 views
In a negative-intergative sentence, whether NOT before subject or after subject?
I'm a boy.
I'm happy.
I'm eating rice.
I eat rice.
I have eaten rice.
I'm here.
I'm in Canada.
What would be negative questions for all above? I'm confused sometimes "NOT" sits before subject like ...
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3answers
53 views
Which (country)
Can the word "country" be omitted in the following?
John visited France, Spain, and Italy last year. Which (country) did he like best?
John visited France, Spain, and Italy last year. In ...
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3answers
36 views
Relative Pronoun Problem
This is the flyover whose inauguration was done by the transport minister.
This is the flyover inauguration of which was done by the transport minister.
why 2. is correct??
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2answers
232 views
If you have (any) questions
Do I need to use any in the following sentence? Does any change the meaning of the following sentence?
If you have (any) questions on the subject, feel free to ask me.
As an English speaker would ...
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1answer
50 views
What was your name vs. What is your name?
Quite often when I am talking over phone with some customer service representative, if they'd need to ask my name again they'd go like
What was your name
Similarly I heard my teacher asking ...
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1answer
160 views
Joining two interrogative sentences with coordinating conjunction
How should I join two interrogative sentences with a coordinating conjunction?
Should the purpose of our education be focused only on ornamenting students with great degrees or it should be ...
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3answers
93 views
Can we add the phrase “do you think” in an interrogative sentence and not reverse the subject-verb order?
I was chatting with my friend and I asked him this question. But, then I was not sure if it was grammatically correct because I had never used the phrase "do you think" with an interrogative sentence. ...
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1answer
70 views
use of article in exclamatory and interrogative sentence
See the following examples:
What sort of (a) man he is!
To my knowledge, this is wrong because in sentences starting with 'what kind of' 'what sort of' 'what type of' 'what variety of' and in ...
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2answers
74 views
“why don't I/ I don't/ have your phone number” vs "why I am not / am I not/ having your phone number
Suppose you work in a office and there is a guy there who you know for a year and you he asks you to call him so that he could find his missing phone through hearing the phone vibrating or something. ...
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2answers
30 views
Is 'what for' identical to'why'
(1) I wondered what she was crying for.
(2) I wondered why she was crying.
Are (1) and (2) exchangeable? Is 'what for' identical to ‘why’ in this context?
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1answer
1k views
Difference between “Are you sure to continue?” and “Are you sure you want to continue?”
A: "Are you sure to continue?"
B: "Are you sure you want to continue?"
Is the first sentence grammatically correct? And what is the difference? Can they be used interchangeably?
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3answers
79 views
Can we say “The sound of what is this?” or “This is the sound of what?” (American English)
In American English, can we say either of these sentences interchangeably?
The sound of what is this?
This is the sound of what?
Context: Imagine I heard a sound at home which sounds like it ...
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1answer
376 views
How would formally ask someone to confirm return date to book a ticket
I would like to book a return ticket back to my hometown for a particular date. I need to ask my someone before finalizing the date. How can I express that in a question form? I have few examples:
...
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3answers
57 views
Question about WH questions
Here are some interrogative statements which are right/wrong (both in American and British English).
Right-
What took you so long?
Who killed my friend?
What disease took away my ...
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2answers
1k views
Did you surprise? vs Have you surprised?
I'm going to meet one of my friend next week. I want to ask about her feeling when her son announced that he will get married with a foreign girl.
(Maybe her son announced 1 month ago, I want to ask ...
0
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2answers
591 views
Use of helping verb in interrogative sentence
Look at these two examples:
Why did Dolores try to flood the forge?
Why Dolores tried to flood the forge?
Is the second example grammatically wrong as the helping verb is not used before the ...
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1answer
2k views
'on what' or 'on which' floor are you?
Our college is a tall building and sometimes friends tell me that they are waiting for me somewhere there. Not always I'm not sure about the floor that he or she is on. So I would like to know how to ...
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2answers
66 views
“How many language do you speak?” OR “How many language you speak?”
How many language do you speak?
OR
How many language you speak?
Which one is correct? What is the difference?
I have found another example:
How much food are you going to take with ...
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4answers
59 views
Can I ask “with whom?” while the mentioned name of the person wasn't clear for example?
My friend: I was there together with (Jon). I wanted to speak with him.
I didn't hear well the name, or the name wasn't clear to me, and I asked him:
Me: With whom?
It that correct to ask ...
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2answers
41 views
Can “How soon” be used with the past tense? If not what would be an alternative for it?
How soon will you get back home? I am sure this question is correct. Can we ask if how soon you took to get back home or How soon did you take to get back home?
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2answers
1k views
complex interrogative sentence
a)Would you mind telling me which tv series it was?
b)Would you mind telling me which tv series was it?
which usage is correct? This is a complex sentence with 'which' as a linker and the tone is ...
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3answers
83 views
“Where there was food?” Vs. “Where was there food?”
What is the correct interrogative structure of existential clause in present and past tense?
Choice 1 (A): "was there food?"
Choice 2 (A): "there was food?"
Another example just with ...
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2answers
35 views
How do we interpret “How do you know?”
It may seem a rather strange question, however, not all foreign learners can understand and interpret the phrase (or part of it) "How do you know?" correctly.
I mean, when we ask "How big is it?" - ...
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1answer
40 views
How to change an interorgative sentence from active to passive
Are you going to sell the book?
I change it as follows :
Is the book going to be sold
My friends said it's not the correct answer
Please help
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1answer
29 views
“What … will” v.s. “What will…”
Compare the following pair of sentences:
What Chinese Tariffs Targeting American Crops Will Mean For Farmers
What will Chinese tariffs targeting American crops mean for farmers?
Why does the ...
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1answer
50 views
Which of the following is grammatically correct and why?
1) Tell me, what would you have done?
2) Tell me, what you would have done?
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4answers
161 views
answering “Yes” or “No” for a question “She doesn't hate me, right?”
I am not a native English speaker. It is very confusing how to answering "Yes." or "No." for a negative question with "right?" added at the end.
Tom: She doesn't hate me, right?
Tom's Friend: ...
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1answer
244 views
How to turn English sentence into question formation
How do I convert basic sentence ("There remains one question.") into a interrogative sentence? I appreciate your answer in advance.
Is it "Does there remain one question?" Or "Does one question ...
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1answer
38 views
Why there are 2 'do' in How do you do
I'm a non native English learner.I was learning grammar and found repetition of same helping verb in following sentences
How do you do?
What did you do?
Why there are 2 do/did in such sentences.
Can ...
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1answer
52 views
How to ask someone about my position in a waiting list?
Suppose that your name is in a waiting list. Now you want to know how many persons are ahead of you. How would you ask that? Does it make any sense to say something like:
Would you tell me how my ...
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2answers
51 views
Is this an application of mediopassive voice in interrogative sentences?
I found a question written as in one of my books:
What is the number of bytes needed for an instruction to store in memory?
I believe the bold part makes the sentence in mediopassive voice. Isn't ...
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2answers
332 views
interrogative sentence with two clauses?
There is this question and it is confusing me:
Has the applicant completed, or is currently enrolled in any other studies or training outside XYZ (country name)?
The answer is:
Yes or No
...
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1answer
255 views
Order of words in interogative sentences
I was afraid to ask this question since I couldn't find any reference online and it kind of breaks the rules of grammar, but I'm curious to know if it can have any meaning and may be possible in ...
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0answers
41 views
for four days/in the last for days
Can one say
You have not seen Jeff for four days, have you?
and
You have not seen Jeff in four days, have you?
Do they mean the same thing?
I think the speaker is asking for confirmation that ...
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1answer
242 views
Is it grammatical/common to put “are” after the subject in questions?
Example:
Which one are we watching?
Which one we're watching?
Is it common to do this? Sometimes I see it, but many native English speakers tell me that I should add the are.
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4answers
97 views
What is different between “What is the dog can do?” and “What can the dog do?”
What are different "what is the dog can do?" and" what can the dog do?"
The right answer is:
"What can the dog do?"
The question is how to make Interrogative sentences?
The sentence is
It ...
0
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1answer
36 views
How to cope with such sentence?
I wrote the following sentence and then immediately I understood that it's apperently incorrect. Now I'm not sure what is the natural way which native English speaker would say this thing.
"Does ...
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1answer
63 views
Why there is a word “does” in the first sentence and no “does” in the second?
What time does the plane arrive tomorrow?
Where the plane arrives?
Or one of this sentences is incorrect? (I'm not english-speaking person).
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1answer
419 views
should 'do' be used in this type of interrogative sentence below?
Can you tell me how do you/people feel about...?
Should auxiliary "do" be used in the sentence ? if shouldn't, then why? is there any general distictive rule to determine it easily. For example, it ...
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2answers
805 views
When to use Does and Is while starting the Interrogative sentence?
I am confused which is the correct sentence
Does your company works on php?
Is your company works on php?
Do your company works on php?
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1answer
310 views
Interrogative determiners: Usage of which and what? and in which context?
I'm reading and understand the idea of determiners. So as per my understanding, we use "which" as a determiner to ask a question about a specific group of people or things
When we are asking a ...
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2answers
2k views
“Why do you not give” Vs “Why do not you give”
Are they, both sentences, grammatically and semantically acceptable?
Why do you not give him your flesh and your bones?
Why do not you give him your flesh and your bones?
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1answer
445 views
Do these two questions mean the same? “Did you not want to gain weight?” and “Didn't you want to gain weight?”
A couple of months ago a friend of mine told me she wanted to gain some weight before her wedding. Yesterday, seemingly looking the same to me, I asked her:
Did you not want to gain some weight?
...
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1answer
855 views
When will the project completed?
I want to ask about the completion of the construction project, so which of the following questions is correct grammatically?
When will be the project completed?
or
When will the project be ...
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1answer
30 views
Does “when” modify the noun?
I will go to the beach next Saturday, so I want to know the weather at
the beach next Saturday.
I am trying to describe this without referring to the specific time "next Saturday". My examples are ...
1
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1answer
164 views
Why use interrogative form in this sentence?
When Fidelio was first performed, it was said that never before had anything so incoherent, coarse, wild, and ear splitting been heard!
Why is it not put in assertive form as
When Fidelio was ...
