WH-QUESTIONS &

REFERENCE WORDS

BEL 120 – CONSOLIDATING LANGUAGE SKILLS

BEL 120/W1

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WH-QUESTIONS

• Purpose – finding information that you do not yet know / have forgotten.

• Based on your experience, how do you go about doing this?

• List down some WH-Qs that you still remember.

BEL 120/W1

WH- WORDSWH-

QUESTIONSABOUT EXAMPLE

WHAT Object / Idea / Action What is he doing?

WHO Person (subject of a sentence)

Who is that man?

WHOM Person (object of a sentence)

With whom did you go out with yesterday?

WHICH Choices of alternatives Which one would you prefer?

WHOSE Possession Whose beautiful dress is that?

WHEN Time When will you be going t Langkawi?

WHERE Place / location Where is the state library?

WHY Reason Why would you hide her doll?

HOW Manner How could you be so rude?BEL 120/W1

POINTS TO PONDER• Wh- questions are different from “yes/no questions”,

which purpose is NOT to seek content information BUT to verify facts or to get a response to a request through a simple “yes” or “no” (or something in between, as with a “maybe” response).

• The following sentence is a yes/no questions.

Do your parents know about this?• Notice that there are no wh- words in the question,

but instead a verb to-do is used.

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FORMATION OF WH-Qs

1. Subject of the main verb A wh- question starts with a wh- word or phrases. If the wh- word or phrase is the subject of the main verb

in the question, then the question has the same word order as an ordinary statement.

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SUBJECT+ VERB + OBJECT?

FORMATION OF WH-Qs (cont’)

• Example:Q: Who opened the new Mc Donald’s here?

(subject) (verb) (object)

A:The young entrepreneur opened the new Mc Donald’s here.

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FORMATION OF WH-Qs (cont’)

2. Other positions If the position of the question word is other that

as the subject of the main verb, then the word order of the wh-question will be different from a typical/usual statement

A wh-word/phrase appears at the beginning of the question before the subject, followed by a “helping verb”.

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FORMATION OF WH-Qs (cont’)

HELPING VERBAuxiliary verb

Modal verb

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DO DOES, DID, ETC

BE IS, ARE, WAS, WERE,ETC

HAVE HAS, HAD, ETC

WH + AUX/MODAL + SUBJECT + VERB + …..?WH + AUX/MODAL + SUBJECT + VERB + …..?

WILL, CAN, MIGHT, SHOULD, ETC

FORMATION OF WH-Qs (cont’)

EXAMPLE OF QUESTION/ANSWER PAIR

Q: What did the man had bought for himself?A: The man had bought a new Nissan 350 for himself.

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ANSWERING QUESTIONS

• 2 types:a) Wh- questions

Must be in the similar order as the question.Example:Q: What is the biggest mammal on land?

(Subject + verb + any phrase after the verb)

A: The biggest mammal on land is the elephant.

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REFERENCE WORDS

• Words that tie/connect a reading text together.• Allow writers to continually mentioned them throughout the

text.• Avoid repetitions –for example:

The Machu Pichu is a breathtaking sight. One has to climb 2,500 metres up the Andes mountains to visit the Machu Pichu.

Better:The Machu Pichu is a breathtaking sight. One has to climb 2,500 metres up the Andes mountains to visit it.

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REFERENCE WORDS

• VARIATION OF FORMATION

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QUESTION ANSWER

What is Uncle Keng doing out there? Uncle Keng is planting some roses.

Why are you staring at Fahmi’s shirt? I’m staring at his shirt because I think I saw some stain.

How did you manage to get that expensive handphone?

I managed to get it by saving money for two months.

REMINDER

• Be careful with the verb form (tense) and the subject-verb agreement.

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DESCRIPTION TENSE USED EXAMPLEWhen asking about something at the moment of speaking (without specifying the time)

Present Tense What is the time now?Where is the post office?Who is the man in the car?

When asking about something/someone/some place to be related to the past

Past Tense What was the case about?Where were you 10 minutes ago?

When asking about something which will happen some time in the future

Future Tense When will you hand it to him?Who will carry this for me?What will he do to save her?

TYPES OF REFERENCE1. ANAPHORIC REFERENCE– For previous/earlier mentioned words, ideas /

statements.– Used to repeat previous information.– Comes AFTER the words.Example 1:My cat eats a lot. It can finish two bowls of Friskies at any one

meal. Example 2:My cousin started taking her son to the Down Syndrome’s

Centre in Petaling Jaya when he was six months old.

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TYPES OF REFERENCE (cont’d)

2. CATAPHORIC REFERENCE– References that come BEFORE the words, ideas or

statements that they refer to in the same sentence/next sentences.

– IF Reference words = possessive adjective pronouns (pronouns that come before the nouns), THEN put an apostrophe (‘) in your answer.

Example:Lily likes to play chess, so does her father.Possessive form Lily’s father

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