Subject Object Questions in English
1. Subject questions
When we want to know the person or thing who performed the verb we need to ask about the subject.
This type of question is called a subject question, and subject questions do NOT use the auxiliary verbs do, does, and did.
Question word | Verb | Rest | Subject | Verb | Rest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Who | lives | in that house? | Susan | lives | in that house. |
What | happened | to you? | I | had | an accident. |
2. Object questions
Most questions in English are object questions – we want to know about the receiver of the action.
For questions in the simple present, the auxiliary verbs are do and does:
Question word | Auxiliary | Subject | Verb | Rest | Answer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Who | do | you | love? | I love my wife. | |
Who | did | John | phone | last night? | John phoned his wife. |
What | does | he | do? | He works in a bank. |
Mind the difference in meaning in the following two questions:
Subject question | Object question |
---|---|
Who phoned Susan? | Who did Susan phone? |
Explanations
- Word Order in English questions (Summary)
- Questions in the Passive
- Questions in the Past Simple
- Questions in the Present Simple
- Questions with Questions Words and the verb BE
- Questions with CAN
- Questions with HAVE and HAVE GOT
- Questions with WHO and WHAT – Subject – Object
- Short Answers in English
- Yes/No questions and short answers and the verb BE