The English language helps to communicate thoughts and ideas in a structured manner. Often in conversations statements are made and arising from these statements questions may be asked. It is useful to learn to convert statements into questions to enrich the quality of conversation.
If I make a statement, 'Roger Federer is the best tennis player' to my friend and he responds 'Is Roger Federer the best tennis player in the world?' My friend has responded by converting my statement into a question.
In order to convert a statement into a question you need to put the verb at the beginning of a sentence and add a question mark at the end. Sometimes the verb may have to be changed and an additional word added. For instance, 'Roger Federer won the Wimbledon tournament in 2012' is a statement and when converted into a question reads 'Did Roger Federer win the Wimbledon tournament in 2012?' Note that we have added 'Did' and changed 'won' to 'win'.
Another simple rule to follow for converting a statement into a question is the use of the verb just before the noun or a pronoun. Also, you must remember to be specific about a noun when two nouns are present in a sentence. For instance, in the sentence ‘Anamika hit Arpana’ you could convert the statement into a question as follows: ‘Did Anamika hit Arpana?’ or ‘Was Arpana hit by Anamika?’ Here, you will notice that the nouns are different and the verbs are also different.
Sentences are converted into questions by normally using words such as DO, DOES, DON’T and DOESN’T. Other words that are used in question sentences include WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, CAN, COULD and WOULD. Typically, DO and DON’T are used with plural nouns and the pronouns 'I', 'you', 'we' and 'they'. DOES and DOESN’T are used with singular nouns and the pronouns 'he', 'she' and 'it.' Take this quiz and learn how to convert statements into questions.