Grammar Spod: Who goes where?
Dear friends of English Grammar,
It is with great pleasure that I resume the pleasant job of introducing you to the (hopefully!) joys of the English language and grammar after an exciting summer
This month we will be looking at question words: what, who, where, when, why and how many.
We use specific question words for asking about: a person, place, time, thing, number and reason.
| Who…? | asks about a PERSON | Who is your teacher? |
| What…? | asks about a THING | What does he do at work? |
| When…? | asks about a TIME | When do you watch TV? |
| Where…? | asks about a PLACE | Where does she live? |
| Why…? | asks about a REASON | Why are you late? |
| How many…? | asks about a NUMBER | How many people are there in your class? |
| Notice the word order: | |||
| Where | do | you | sleep? |
| What | can | you | do in your free time? |
| How many | are | there? |
I hope you enjoyed this introduction to question words. Please let me know if there is a tense or a grammatical concept you would like to read about in particular in one of the following editions of StopPress. I would be delighted to hear from you at stoppress@laltorbay.co.uk.
Until next month – yours sincerely,
Countess Grammar AM
Excercise
Read about Jack, who is an astronaut for NASA, and his life.
Which is the correct question word in each question?
Q1: Where/Why do you work when you’re not on the Space Shuttle?
Jack: At NASA, in Florida.
Q2: When/Where do you live?
Jack: In Orlando, Florida.
Q3: Who/What do you live with?*
Jack: My wife and children.
Q4: What/Who’s your wife’s name?
Jack: Jill.
Q5: What/When’s her job?
Jack: She works at NASA too.
Q6: What/How many children do you have?
Jack: Two.
Q7: How many/How old are your children?
Jack: They’re seven and five.
Q8: Why/When do you like working at NASA?
Jack: Because every day we learn something new.
*For a bonus point, why does Baron Von Grammar think that this question is a demonstration of bad grammar?
You can check your answers below.
Q1 Where, Q2 Where, Q3 Who, Q4 What, Q5 What, Q6 How, Q7 How old, Q8 Why. Baron Von Grammar thinks that the correct way to ask this question would be "With whom do you live?".
Adapted from: Cutting Edge Starter, S. Cunningham, C. Redston, P. Moor, Parson Longman.
