Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Grammar Topic 26 - Subject and Object Questions


Grammar – Topic 26
Subject and Object Questions


The questions above are object questions. The question words ask about the recipients of the action and not the doers of the action.

The question words ‘whom’ and ‘what’ are objects of the main verb.

Here are more examples. To form object questions, we place the auxiliary verb between the question word and the subject.


object
auxiliary
subject
verb
Whom
did
you
meet?
What
did
she
eat?


The answers to the questions will help you to see clearly that the question words are asking about the objects of the main verbs.

Whom did you meet?
I met Jim.

The object of the question is ‘whom’. The object of the answer is ‘Jim’.


What did she eat?
She ate pasta.

The object of the question is ‘what’. The object of the answer is ‘pasta’.


Read the dialogue below.

Tom: Who broke Mr Peter’s window?
Leon: Martha broke his window.
Tom: Oh dear, I hope she did not have to pay for the broken window.
Leon: No, she did not. However, Mr Peter’s made a phone call.
Tom: Who did he call?
Leon: He called Martha’s mother to tell her what had happened.


The questions in the dialogue above are subject questions. The question words ask about the doers of the action.

The question word ‘who’ is the subject of the main verb.

Here are more examples. To form subject questions, we place the main verb after the question word.

subject
verb
object
Who
wrote
this?
What
destroyed
the crops?


The answers to the questions will help you to see clearly that the question words are asking about the subjects of the main verbs.

Who wrote this?
Jack wrote this.

The subject of the question is ‘who’. The subject of the answer is ‘Jack’.


What destroyed the crops?
Insects destroyed the crops.

The subject of the question is ‘what’. The subject of the answer is ‘insects’.

Here are some examples of subject and object questions for given answers.
Answer: John finished the tub of ice cream.
Subject question: Who finished the tub of ice cream?
Object question: What did John finish?

Answer: The children ran around the field.
Subject question: Who ran around the field?
Object question: What did the children do?


Let’s Practise.
Read the questions below. Write (s) if the question is a subject question and (o) if the question is an object question.

1. Whom did you meet at the supermarket?             (           )

2. What was in the box?                                            (           )

3. What did Ann have for dinner?                              (           )

4. Who is at the door?                                                (           )

5. What do you want to eat?                                     (           )

6. Who owns this food stall?                                     (           )

7. What ingredients are used to make the soup?     (           )

8. Whom did you send the email to?                         (           )


Answers:
1. O
2. S
3. O
4. S
5. O
6. S
7. S

8. O

No comments:

Post a Comment

Grammar Topic 26 - Subject and Object Questions

Grammar – Topic 26 Subject and Object Questions The questions above are object questions. The question words ask about the recipient...