100 Mistakes #24 - The order of questions

Let's look at a question:

What eats chickens?

This is a perfectly good question but is the answer foxes or corn?

The position of the words "eat" and "chickens" is important here.

If part of a sentence says:
"... chickens eat...", I know that chickens eat something. These chickens are doing something. So the chickens are the subject of the verb.

If part of a sentence says:
"...eat chickens...", I know that something eats chickens. So these chickens are the object of the verb. The chickens are now a type of food.

You can't put the subject after the main verb because I will think it's the object!

So... what eats chickens?

Foxes.
Foxes eat chickens.
(Subjects eat objects.)

This question was a "tell-me-the-subject" question.

- - - - -

But what question should I ask to get the answer corn?
What if I want you to tell me the object?

Well, we know that the order has to be "... chickens eat..." because chickens eat corn.

So we could try... What chickens eat?

But... English is a language of auxiliaries.

We need the auxiliary verb, do:

What do chickens eat?

Corn.
Chickens eat corn.
(Subjects eat objects.)

This question was a "tell-me-the-object" question.

- - - - -

Fantastic. So how do I know when I need to use an auxiliary?

As a general rule, in most tenses, you need an auxiliary.
But in the present simple and simple past, we can sometimes drop (delete) the auxiliary.

Let's break it down into positive and negative statements, and a series of questions:

(+) Chickens eat corn.
(-) Chickens don't eat corn.
(?) Yes or No: Do chickens eat corn?
(?) tell-me-the-object: What do chickens eat?
(?) tell-me-the-subject: What eats corn?

So, in the PRESENT SIMPLE:

• you don't need the auxiliary 'do' in the positive statement and "tell-me-the-subject" questions.
• for the other forms (negative, yes/no questions, "tell-me-the-object" questions and other questions: why, how, where...), you need the auxiliary 'do'.

The SIMPLE PAST is very similar:

• you don't need the auxiliary 'did' in the positive statement and "tell-me-the-subject" questions.
• for all other forms (negative, yes/no questions, "tell-me-the-object" questions, and other questions: why, how, where...), you need the auxiliary 'did'.

(+) The chickens ate the corn.
(-) The chickens didn't eat the corn.
(?) Yes or No: Did the chickens eat the corn?
(?) tell-me-the-object: What did the chickens eat?
(?) tell-me-the-subject: What ate the corn?


But the present simple and simple past are special.
Other tenses need auxiliaries in every form.

Here's the PRESENT CONTINUOUS:

• you need the auxiliary 'be' in every form.

(+) The chickens are eating the corn.
(-) The chickens aren't eating the corn.
(?) Yes or No: Are the chickens eating the corn?
(?) tell-me-the-object: What are the chickens eating?
(?) tell-me-the-subject: What is eating the corn?

- - - - -

So here are a few questions that I've heard from my students. They are not English sentences because there are mistakes in the structure. But where did my students go wrong?


1. What means "overwhelming"?

2. Where the concert takes place?

3. You like Barça?

4. When started the lesson?

5. What we do today?

6. When you came to Spain?

7. You go to England in August? 

100 Mistakes #21 - Doubts

Let's imagine a nightmare situation...

Your boss holds a meeting to explain her plans for next year. There's something you don't understand, so you say: "I have a doubt."

Your boss looks very angry and says "Well, if you have a better idea, let's hear it!"

Oh dear. Something went wrong there. That's not what you meant. You were trying to say that you didn't fully understand.

Let's imagine a problem-free situation...

Your boss holds a meeting to explain her plans for next year. There's something you don't understand, so you say: "I'm not sure I follow you."

Your boss looks apologetic and says "Sorry, I know there are a lot of changes. Which part didn't you understand?"

That's better. That's what we wanted.

The problem is the word "doubt" and English politeness.

In English, if you say "I have some doubts", you think that the proposal is not very good. You have doubts about the plan, not about your own understanding. In fact, you probably hate the plan, but you're just being polite.

(When there's a big problem, English people will tell you that there's a small problem. We don't want to hurt your feelings.)

If you doubt your understanding, there are lots of phrases you can use. For example:

• I'm not sure I follow you.  √
• I have a question.  √
• Could you just explain the last part?  √
• Could you go over the first part again?  √
• I didn't really get the bit about...  √

The only people who use the phrase "I have a doubt" are Spanish speakers!