General Questions

Also known as "Yes/No questions" because a short answer (yes or no) is expected. This kind of question is formed by putting an auxiliary verb before the subject (=inversion).

Ex.: Are you from Greece?

Answer: Yes, I am / No, I am not

Was she at home yesterday? Answer: Yes, she was / No, she wasn't

Alternative Questions

They are questions that offer the listener a closed choice between two or more answers. They are formed like Yes/No questions.

Ex.: Would you like eggs, pancakes, or waffles?

Will you come at 3 or at 5 in the evening?

Disjunctive questions

Also called “question tags”. They appear at the end of sentence. We use them to show emphasis, politeness, irony or lack of confidence.

Main Clause + the comma + Positive/ Negative Auxiliary Verb + Personal Pronoun.

Ex.: They have just arrived, haven't they? You like her, don't you?

In the English language there are several types of questions. Among them are General Questions, Special questions, Disjunctive questions and Tag questions. Let’s learn how they are formed!

Special Questions

They are those questions that ask for details (we also call them Wh-questions as most of them start with "wh": What? Which? When? Where? Why? Whose? Other special questions include: How? How many? How much?). Special questions require inversion, like general questions.

Ex.: Where are you from? Answer: I am from America.

How old are you? Answer: I'm 12.

Questions to the subject have the word order of an affirmative sentence.

Ex.: Who will buy milk? Who wants some tea? What makes you think so?

(Will who buy milk? Who does want some tea? What does make you think so?)