VOA慢速英语--Where Did You Learn English? Forming Questions, Part 3

 

Imagine you are meeting a group of English learners to practice your speaking skills. The group leader puts everyone into small practice groups. The people in your group begin to ask each other questions. Here are some questions you might hear or ask:

What do you like doing for fun?

When did you come to the U.S.?

Where did you learn English?

Object questions

These are all examples of object questions, and we are going to tell you about them today.

Object questions are sometimes called “wh-questions” or “five w” questions” because they begin with one of five “wh” words: “who,” “what,” “when,” “where” and “why.” They can also begin with “how,” “how much” or “how many.”

What is QUASM?

There is a simple, dependable pattern to remember when forming object questions. It is called QUASM and it works¹ for most verb tenses. The QU in QUASM stands for “question word.” The A stands for “auxiliary² verb.” You may recall³ that auxiliary verbs are helping⁴ verbs – such as “do” “be” and “have”—that we use to form questions and verb tenses. The S in QUASM stands for “subject.” And the M stands for “main verb.”?

Let’s see how QUASM applies to object questions in a few verb tenses.

Simple present

In the simple present and simple past tenses, we use a form of the verb “do” as the auxiliary verb.

Here are some object questions in the simple present tense.

What do Americans eat for breakfast?

Where does she go to school?

Now, we’ll find QUASM in one of these examples. In the question “What do Americans eat for breakfast?” our question word is “what”; the auxiliary verb is “do”; the subject is “Americans”; and the main verb is “eat.”

Simple past

Moving on to simple past, the form of “do” will always be “did,” which is the past tense. Here are some examples. Listen for the QUASM pattern in each and make a note of the question word, auxiliary verb, subject and main verb:

Where did you learn English?

How did you make that dish?

How much / How many

As we said earlier, object questions can also begin with “how much” or “how many.” We often use these phrases for questions in simple present or simple past verb.

And, there is usually a noun⁵ after the phrase and before the auxiliary verb. Listen to two examples:

How much money did you spend on fall clothes?

How many cards do I have in my hand?

In these questions, the nouns⁶ “cards” and “money” do not affect the QUASM pattern. You can think of the phrases how much- or how many + noun as the QU in QUASM.

Other verb tenses

So, what about object questions in other verb tenses? How do you choose an auxiliary verb for them? The answer is easy: use whichever auxiliary verb that the verb tense uses.

For example, we form the present continuous⁷ tense with the auxiliary verb be + -ing. In object questions, we put this verb tense into the QUASM pattern. Listen for the pattern in these questions:

Where are you going for Thanksgiving?

Why is everyone standing⁸ around?

You can still hear the be + -ing verb tense, but it is separated by the subject.

Unlike the simpler tenses, some complex verb tenses in English, such as the perfect continuous tenses, have two auxiliary verbs. Object questions in such tenses do not follow the QUASM pattern. The question “What has she been studying to prepare for the test?” is an example. The auxiliary verbs “has” and “been” are separated by the subject.

For the purpose of today’s program, we will not focus on these complex verb tenses.

QUASM for modals

OK, here’s something a lot simpler: modals verbs, also called “modals” or “modal auxiliaries⁹.” We sometimes call them “modal auxiliaries” because they are a kind of helping verb. Modals include “can” “could” “should” “might” “would” and many more.

Object questions containing modals also follow the QUASM pattern. Listen for the pattern in these examples:

Where should I drop off my dry cleaning?

How can we improve our customer service?

OK, that’s our time for today. If you made it to the end of this three-part series, congratulations! Now, I have three questions for you:

What did you learn in this three-part series?

Who can help you practice forming questions?

Do you know what kinds of questions each of these is?

For practice exercises and more, visit our website.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

practice – v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

focus – v. to direct your attention or effort at something specific

modal verb – n. a verb that is usually used with another verb to express ideas such as possibility, necessity¹⁰, and permission

dry cleaning – n. clothing or cloth items that need to be or have been dry-cleaned

customer – n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

1 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

2 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

3 recall   

n.回忆，召回，取消；vt.回想起，召回，与...相似，恢复

参考例句：

• As you may recall, he was in the army then.你可能记得当时他正在从军。
• We demand that you recall your army from our border.我们要求你们撤回在我们边境的部队。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

6 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 continuous   

adj.继续的，连续的，持续的，延伸的

参考例句：

• She finally got in after 10 years'continuous effort.坚持不懈地努力了十年后，她终于当选了。
• We must be continuous to study.我们必须不断学习。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 auxiliaries   

n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 )；辅助工，辅助人员

参考例句：

• These auxiliaries have made our work much easier. 有了这些辅助人员，我们的工作才顺利多了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In English the future tense is often rendered by means of auxiliaries. 在英语中，将来时常用助动词来表现。 来自辞典例句

10 necessity   

n.必要性，需要；必需品

参考例句：

• I look upon this as an absolute necessity.我认为这是绝对必要的。
• You must understand the necessity of education.你必须懂得教育的必要性。