Interrogative Mood

To make a 'yes-no question', first you have to put the 'auxiliary verb' at the beginning of the sentence. In other words, you have to change the place of the 'subject and the auxiliary verb.'

Remember to use a 'question mark,' at the end of the 'interrogative sentence.'

To make a wh-question you will need a wh-word. Who, whose, whom, what, which, how are called wh-words. These words can be:

Sometimes in informal situations, we reduce wh-questions. We do it, because we know that the listener know what we are talking about.

'Tags' are another type of 'interrogative mood.' Tags are used when you are not sure whether the thing you are talking about is true or not. We have three types of tags:

'Alternative questions' are interrogatives that are concerned with the matter of choosing between two or more options. As you might know, you use some conjunctions to link the items to each other. Here, in this case, you use the conjunction 'or.' Check out the examples:

As you can see, we can make alternative questions by using 'or not' at the end of the interrogative clause. 'Alternative questions' are also known as, Nexus questions, closed questions, choice questions, either-or questions, or multiple-choice interrogatives. It is good to know that alternative interrogatives mostly end in falling intonation.

'Statement questions' are declarative sentences that act like questions. Usually, you are shocked about what you have heard earlier or you are shocked about the situation. 'Statement questions' can be either affirmative or negative statements. Remember, that you do not need an 'inversion' to create 'statement questions.'

Remember, while making a declarative statement and a statement question you must be careful about the 'intonation.' Because the intonation is totally different.

'Echo questions' as their name suggests are used to 'repeat' parts or all of something someone has just said; because we could not hear it all, we are surprised about what we have heard, or we cannot believe it. 'Echo questions' are usually 'declarative statements' with an interrogative word at the end. Sometimes we use the interrogative word at the beginning of the question to ask ourselves to remember a particular piece of information.

Remember, while using an echo question you should use a rising intonation with an emphasis on the interrogative word.

Sometimes people can shorten wh-questions when there has been a conversation made by the two earlier. That is because they both know what they are talking about. So making the question short, cannot cause any confusion. 'Follow-up' are used immediately after a statement that was declared by the person who is talking to the questioner.

As you can see, sometimes 'follow-up' questions are not formed by interrogative words, and they are used to show that you are interested in something the speaker is talking about.

You can ask two questions at the same time. In this case, we use 'two-step' questions. Usually, the first question makes us clear about what we are asking for and the second question gives options to the speaker to help them give more detail.