25
votes
"What is the weather today?" or "How is the weather today?"
Both can be fine. While the first focuses more on the objective description of the weather, and the second focuses more on someone's subjective opinion of the weather, the answer can go either way, ...
- 88.4k
17
votes
"What is the weather today?" or "How is the weather today?"
They're both perfectly natural. Arguably some people might think the what version is more appropriate when the speaker is specifically interested in knowing what the weather actually is (or perhaps ...
- 73.9k
11
votes
Accepted
"What time...?" or "At what time...?" - what is more grammatically correct?
The initial preposition at in such contexts is entirely optional, but it usually wouldn't be included (although in reality we usually use when rather than [at] what time anyway :).
OP's specific ...
- 73.9k
10
votes
how she is charming / how charming she is
The version
John understands how charming she is.
is about how much charm she has.
The version
John understands how she is charming.
is about what makes her charming or why they call her ...
- 2,490
9
votes
Why does "by whom" come first in a passive voice sentence?
(In this answer, I loosely use the term "wh-phrase" to mean a phrase with a wh-word that defines what the question is about. If that phrase includes a preposition, it may in fact be a ...
- 51k
9
votes
Accepted
Can a question begin with 'but'?
The answer is a bit more complex than it may seem at first. The question that is being asked is hidden in the context of the conversation.
To end the sentence with a period, would indicate that Ivan ...
- 9,355
8
votes
Accepted
"Why do you not give" Vs "Why do not you give"
This is a very simple example of subject–auxiliary inversion, and it is required in most interrogative sentences in English. The subject and the auxiliary verb appear in the reverse of the order in ...
8
votes
how she is charming / how charming she is
The other two answers are both correct, even though they are slightly different.
Why? Because "He noticed how she is charming" is ambiguous.
It can either mean:
He noticed that she is charming (...
- 2,764
8
votes
"What is the weather today?" or "How is the weather today?"
I agree with both the other answers about the relative usage of the two forms you've mentioned. I will add one more possibility:
Often when I'm deciding what to wear for the day I'll ask my spouse to ...
- 4,127
7
votes
Why does "by whom" come first in a passive voice sentence?
I don't know of a rule stating that such sentences should start with the object.
Both of your passive sentences are grammatically correct.
The use of "whom" is uncommon in informal speech ...
- 9,318
6
votes
Did he really say "What's your weight?"? [intonation]
The quoted question should fit the flow of the one the speaker is actually asking, and thus have a rising intonation.
This is generally true for very short quotations, but longer ones, especially ...
- 8,187
6
votes
Can a question begin with 'but'?
Compare:
So, you want to buy my car?
-- Yes.
But you don't have any money and want to do a trade instead?
-- That's right. I have a winning lottery ticket from 1954 that was never redeemed. It's ...
- 133k
4
votes
Accepted
Is the auxiliary verb “do” required in WH-questions: "Which security flaws these protocols have?"
A beginning guide to questions like the one below:
Security protocols have flaws: Which security protocols do these protocols have?
Have is the declarative verb. All questions with have need the do ...
- 47.4k
4
votes
how she is charming / how charming she is
how she is charming
refers to the fact of her being charming.
how charming she is
refers to the degree of her charm.
He noticed how the ladder was wobbly.
He noticed how wobbly the ladder ...
- 133k
4
votes
How to make questions with "what" in the middle of sentence?
Only the first sentence is correct English:
Iran is supporting the Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians... but what makes these countries terrorists?
The reason why only the first sentence is correct ...
- 37.7k
4
votes
After whom are you looking? At what are you looking?
You're confusing prepositions and "prepositional verbs".
Multi-word verbs are verbs which consist of a verb and one or two particles or prepositions (e.g. up, over, in, down). There are three
...
- 278
4
votes
Accepted
(Why + can) - Is it a possible structure?
It's perfectly acceptable to use "Why can..." though it's more common to hear "Why can't..."
Often "Why can" is used in comparisons, whether explicit or implicit.
Explicit:
"Why can my sister ...
- 11k
4
votes
George became a writer of detective stories. (What / Which) did George become a writer of?
You only use "which" when you present a choice of answers. For example, if you presented someone with an apple, a banana, and an orange, you might ask "which would you like?"
As ...
- 108k
4
votes
Accepted
Which is correct {What does make/What makes} the water rise at night?
They can both be correct depending on the context.
"What does make the water rise at night?" implies there has been a previous statement from another person of what does not make the water ...
- 185
4
votes
How does the sentence 'Who did Tom say saw him?' work?
It is a bit difficult. I'll describe it in terms of Transformational Grammar: other grammars are available.
We start with
Who1 saw Tom2?
Then we embed that in a matrix "Tom said":
Tom2 ...
- 76.6k
3
votes
Accepted
'on what' or 'on which' floor are you?
It really makes no difference to the meaning of the question which of the two you use, in today's common usage. Using 'which' sounds slightly more proper to me. I imagine that if the Queen of England ...
- 4,837
3
votes
Accepted
Do questions with "which" need auxiliary verbs to make a question?
Which websites (do) report unbiased news about Iran?
Which websites (do) people read in Iran?
Here's a test to decide if you need an auxiliary verb to make a particular question.
Write out a ...
3
votes
Accepted
How many people are (there) in your family?
Let's look at them without the "there":
How many people are in your family?
How many apples are in the fridge?
These are completely fine.
Technically, you would answer "How many are there?"...
- 592
3
votes
Making 4 types of question
You are right that your examples are wrong.
Interrogatives usually require the modal "do" except in highly stylized or obsolete usages.
Does she have to get up early?
Does she have to get up ...
- 32.1k
3
votes
Who do go there?-VS- Who go there?
When asking questions about who does something, it's usual to use the third person singular form of the verb - so "who goes there" or "who does go there".
You would usually use the simple form unless ...
- 22.9k
3
votes
"What time...?" or "At what time...?" - what is more grammatically correct?
As user070221 notes, both sentences are commonly used in American English. In some formal speech and writing, "At what time" is more acceptable than "When" or "What time", especially when "a precise ...
- 24.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Is it correct to say, "Where did you throw the ball?"?
No, the question is entirely correct grammatically. If you were watching baseball, for example, and you didn't see where someone threw the ball, you might very well ask "where did he throw the ...
- 15.1k
3
votes
one of which vs. one of whom
(a) is fine, (b) is fine grammatically, but less common since one would tend to use a pronoun like "who" or "whom" for a person, and "that" or "which" for a ...
- 228k
3
votes
Accepted
How can we know the aim of question tag(where,who) if we don't use preposition?
I'm afraid none of these is very idiomatic. We could say "Where did you draw it?" for the first three (it being the picture).
For (2) we could also say "Where were you when you drew it?&...
- 59.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Why isn't there an article before "proportion"?
What is functioning as a determiner, so you cannot use an article as well.
What town do you come from?
What song did they play?
(You may occasionally encounter what a or what the, but only in ...
- 76.6k
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