Interrogative sentences

Introduction

People use questions all the time—both in one-on-one conversations and large discussions. Because questions may be intended to elicit a range of responses, they are an instrumental component of proper communication. You can always tell if a sentence is interrogative by looking at its punctuation. Interrogative sentences almost always end with a question mark (?). In addition to the question mark, an interrogative sentence often has variations in word order within the sentence. For example, an interrogative sentence in English might begin with a helping verb (e.g., do, does, did). The subject will typically follow the helping verb before the main verb in the sentence.

What is an Interrogative sentence?

An interrogative sentence is a sentence in English that includes a question that asks for or requests information about something. In other words, an interrogative sentence does not answer a question but rather asks a specific question requiring information.

Examples of Interrogative sentences

Whether you know it or not, you use interrogative sentences all the time. They are questions in your sentences that you intend for someone to answer. These questions may not be explicitly stated, but they are still there. Some of the examples of interrogative sentences are:

Did I wake you up?

What do you think of my new haircut?

Who do you think should be the next President?

Why is the sky blue?

In the sentences mentioned above, you will observe that these sentences often start with the words did, how, what, who, why.

Formation of Interrogative Sentences

The interrogative sentence is used to ask questions. This may seem obvious, but the question might not necessarily have a question mark. Interrogative sentences are also used to make requests and to give commands. Asking questions is an important part of communication, so knowing how interrogative sentences are formed is important.

For example, statements can be made using the sentence pattern of subject + verb.

She goes to the park every weekend.

This sentence has a subject (she) and a verb (goes), so this is a statement.

Questions can be made from statements by changing the word order or by adding modals or auxiliary verbs like “do,” “does,” “did,” etc.

Does she go to the park every weekend?

Auxiliary verbs come first in interrogative sentences, before the subject and the main verb. Here the auxiliary verb does comes before she and go.

Who goes to the park every weekend?

Questions can also be formed by switching around word order in a statement, with the subject becoming what was previously the object and vice versa. In this example, “she” becomes “who.”

Indirect Questions

Indirect questions are a part of the declarative sentence. They do not ask a question but rather declare information. The clause that is the indirect question is punctuated differently than a direct question.

Examples 

Direct questions:

Are you happy?

Has he eaten yet?

What are you talking about?

Indirect questions:

I wonder what she is doing.

He asked me whether I was injured or not.

Do you know where he is?

Open-ended interrogative sentence

Sentences beginning with “question word” are called open-ended interrogative sentences. It asks for more than a yes or no answer. The most common question words are who, what, when, where, why, and how. Example:

Who is the person you most admire?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

When did you start learning English?

Where will you go for vacation this year?

Why did you decide to study abroad?

How many languages can you speak?

To form an interrogative sentence: start with the question word and follow it with auxiliary verb + subject + main verb. For example:

What are your plans for vacation next month? (question word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb)

Other types of Interrogative sentences

1. Yes/No questions

Questions that can be answered with a yes or no are called yes/no questions. These are questions that have an auxiliary verb and a subject pronoun. They can also be answered with “yeah” or “nope”. Eg.

Are you enjoying your holiday in Paris?

Did you eat breakfast?

2.Alternative Interrogatives

These are the questions that use “or” while framing. Usually, they begin with a verb or a helping verb. They offer a choice between one or more choices. Eg

Do you want to order Chinese or Indian for dinner?

Can I get you a glass of milk, or would you prefer a beer?

3.Tag questions

Tag questions are small questions that go at the end of a sentence. They can make a statement into a question; they ask for confirmation.

E.g., You live in Paris, don’t you? If you feel that the tag question might put the person you’re talking to off, use a flat declaration instead: You live in Paris.

4,Indirect questions

Indirect questions are always introduced by a verb of inquiry, such as ask, beg, inquire, know, or wonder. E.g.,

I was wondering if you wanted to get tacos for lunch.

Conclusion

Interrogative sentences are questions that are asked to get some information. They always end with a question mark. Most questions start with wh-words like what, why, how, or with auxiliary verbs like ‘to do’ or ‘to have’. They can be open-ended, direct, indirect or tag questions. One must be thorough with the knowledge of using an interrogative sentence in order to avoid any mistake.