QUESTIONS WITH OR WITHOUT AUXILIARIESOBJECT AND SUBJECT QUESTIONS

Questions with an auxiliary

QUESTION AUXILIARY SUBJECT INFINITIVE/ PAST PARTICIPLE

What music do you like?

Which CD did he buy?

How long has she lived here?

• To make questions in the past and present simple, we normally use the auxiliary verbs DO/DOES/DID + infinitive.

What music do you like?

• To make questions in the present and past continuous we use the auxiliary verb BE + vb-ing.

What was she doing there?

• To make questions in the present perfect we use the auxiliary verb HAVE + past participle.

How long has she lived in Palma?

Questions without an auxiliary

SUBJECT VERB

What happened after the concert?

Which country won the Eurovision Song Contest?

Who writes their songs?

Who was talking on the phone?

Who has been to New York?

• When the question word WHO? WHAT? HOW MANY? is the subject of the verb in the question, we do not use an auxiliary (DO, DOES, DID) and the verb is in the third person.

Who writes their songs?

John writes their songs

What makes you happy?

Listening to music makes me happy.

How many students passed the test?

Only three students passed the test.