QUASM – Asking questions in English – a simple method

Learners of English are often confused about how to structure questions in English. It can seem like a complicated challenge at first. In the case of most other languages, you can ask a question by making a statement and raising the tone of the voice at the end of the sentence. For example, when we hear the following statement with a raised intonation, ‘You like walking to school?’ we know that it is a question, but be aware, this is not usual for native English speakers. It is usually expected in English to use a correct question structure! Also, in many other languages, questions are often formed by simply reversing the word order. In French for example the following question in its most basic form can be asked like this; 

1. Ou vas-tu ?
2. Je vais à l’école.

In this example, the person asking the question needed only to reverse the verb and the subject and remember to use the right part of the verb (conjugation). Now, try asking the same question in English;

1. Where are you going?
2. I am going to school.

So, you can see already that the sentence structure is more complicated. We have the ‘question word’, in this case ‘where’, but after that we have the auxiliary verb ‘are’, which is part of the verb ‘to be’ and which makes part of the tense being used here in its question form, namely, the Present Continuous tense. After that, we have ‘you’, which is the subject (the person or thing ‘doing’ the action) followed by the main verb ‘to go’, but you have to remember to use the correct form for the Present Continuous tense ‘going’ (gerund ‘_ing’). In addition, the question above has two possible translations because in English the question may be asked not only using the Present Continuous tense. In other words, the questioner might not be asking ‘where are you going?’ at this precise moment in time, but rather asking about a habit or routine. In this case, the question could be translated as;

1. Where do you go?
2. I go to school

Here, after the question word ‘when’, we have the auxiliary verb ‘do’, which is clearly part of the verb ‘to do’ and which makes part of the tense being used here in its question form, namely, the Present Simple tense, which is used to talk about habits, routines or states. After that, we have ‘you’, which is the subject (the person or thing who ‘does’ the action) followed by the main verb ‘to go’, and again you have to remember to use the correct form for the Present Simple tense ‘go’ (the infinitive ‘go’).

So, how do you remember to put the component parts of a sentence into the correct order? Don’t worry – I’m going to teach you a simple formula that works for asking questions in almost ALL the verb tenses. When you follow this formula, it all becomes surprisingly easy!

This formula is called QUASM:

QU estion word
A uxiliary verb
S ubject
M ain verb

Simple Present Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
Where	do	you	live?
What	does	David	think	about his new job?
How	do	you	like	life in the city?
How many cars	does	your boss	have?

Simple Past Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
How	did	they	learn	Spanish?
When	did	you	arrive	In Paris?
What	did	your sister	think	about your news?
Where	did	he	eat	the meal?

Present Continuous Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
What	are	you	doing	now?
Why	is	he	watching	me?
What time	are	they	leaving	for house?
Who	is	she	interviewing	now?

Past Continuous Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
Who	were	you	talking	to on the phone?
What	was	Jim	doing	when you called?
Why	were	the children	eating	candy before dinner?
How	was	he	feeling	after the surgery?

Present Perfect Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
How much time	have	you	spent	In the garden?
How long	has	your doctor	practiced	medicine?
What	have	they	been doing	all day?
How long	has	your guest	been waiting	for his invitation?

Future Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
Who	will	you	send	to town?
What	will	your friends	think	about your idea?
When	are	they	going	to answer your email?
Why	is	he	going	to emigrate?

Modal Questions:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
What	would	you	do	if you had a million dollars?
How	could	we	improve	our English?
Where	should	I	go	on my next vacation?

Exceptions:

Yes/No questions do not use a question word…but they still follow ASM (Auxiliary verb – Subject – Main verb). In all of these examples you can add an appropriate question word at the beginning and it still makes sense…

• Do you like avocados?
• Did she enjoy the meal?
• Are you studying English?
• Were you working when I called you last night?
• Have you finished your telephone conversation?
• Will you call me when you arrive?
• Are you going to start the new job?
• Should we take the later train?

Questions where the main verb is “be” also don’t follow the pattern but instead, you simply reverse the word order:

• Are you tired? (You are tired)
• Is she a politician? (She is a politician)
• Were your friends pleased? (Your friends were pleased)
• Was her father a footballer? (Her father was a footballer)

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please ‘like’ it and share it with your friends and colleagues, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my online one-to-one lessons, please do ask them to contact me to discuss how I can help them to excel in English.   

Thank you,  

Martin