Questions

In a statement, the subject comes before be: The door is open. To check the same fact with a neutral question, move is to the beginning: Is the door open? The rest of the meaning does not change.

Choose the form according to the subject: I → am; he, she, it and one thing or person → is; you, we, they and several people or things → are. You takes are for both one person and several people.

Do not split the subject when you form a question. In the phrase your new office, all three words name one office; is goes before the entire phrase, not before the last word.

Count people or things, not words. The new room is one object. Anna and Leo are two people. Keep the part after the subject as well: do not replace tiredness with a profession or place merely to create a new question.

When be itself links the subject with a state, place, or a person’s identity, it is enough to form the question. Do not add do/does or leave a second copy of am/is/are after the subject.

Questions with other verbs are formed differently. Here we are not practising work, like, or live as main verbs, and we are not forming -ing constructions. Focus on a simple idea such as “you are free” or “the room is warm.”

Do not automatically copy the pronoun from the question. When one person asks you Are you…?, you answer about yourself: I am. When the question is about you and someone else, the answer for the whole group is we are. The word you itself does not show number—the situation is needed.

If someone asks Am I…?, you refer to that person as the person you are speaking to: you are. For Are we…?, determine whether you belong to the same group: a group member can answer we are, while someone outside the group answers you are.

In a positive short answer, after yes, use a pronoun and the full form of be: Yes, she is. At the end of this standard answer, be is not contracted with the pronoun: not Yes, she's. This is not a ban on contractions in every sentence.

A negative short answer contains not. These are possible: No, she is not; No, she isn't; No, she's not. With I, use No, I am not or No, I'm not. In this lesson, we practise standard English forms.

A full answer is also grammatical: Yes, I'm ready. Here, ready follows I'm, so the restriction on a final short answer does not apply. If an exercise asks specifically for a short answer, a full answer may not meet the required format, but it is not grammatically wrong for that reason.

You are tired? can be a correct question in conversation: for example, you may be checking your own conclusion or reacting with surprise to what you heard. Statement word order in this context is not automatically a grammatical mistake.

For a basic neutral request for information, this lesson practises Are you tired? If an instruction asks specifically for this type of question with inversion, You are tired? does not meet the learning goal, although it may be possible in another situation.

Before producing your own sentence, check three things: whom you are asking about, which form of be the entire subject requires, and whether you want to check a fact rather than ask for different information. In the answer, separately check the facts and the speaker’s role.

In an ordinary direct question about an identified subject, put the question word or whole question phrase first, then am/is/are before the subject. The office is upstairs becomes Where is the office? The subject determines the form of be: I → am; he/she/it and one thing → is; you/we/they and plurals → are.

In these questions, be is the main verb: it describes a condition, location, identity or characteristic. Do not add do/does. You requires are whether it refers to one person or several. The subject's length makes no difference: my new work phone refers to one phone, so use is.

In Someone is ready, the unknown information is the person. Replace someone with who: Who is ready? Who already occupies the subject position, so do not add he, she or it. Similarly, What is in the box? asks which thing is in the box; what is already the subject.

Do not mechanically apply question word + be + another subject to every question. Compare Who is here? and Where is he? The first seeks a person; the second already identifies the person as he and seeks a place. Use is in basic questions such as Who is ready? / What is inside? This does not mean every who-question always has is: Who are those people? contains plural those people.

How does not only express manner. With be, it often asks about condition or impressions: How is your soup? Adding old, far or long produces questions about age, distance or duration. The whole phrase precedes be: How old is…?, not How is … old?

How many + plural noun asks how many separate items there are. How much can ask about an uncountable quantity or a price. In a price question, is/are agrees with the item being priced, not with much: How much is this cup? and How much are these cups? Asking about price does not mean much can replace many before chairs.

What is useful when the possible answers are not restricted: What is your address? Which highlights a choice among known options: Which address is yours? The list may appear in the conversation, on a screen or simply be understood by both people.

This is a difference in how the choice is presented, not a ban on what when there are few options. In some situations, What colour is your bag? and Which colour is your bag? are both grammatical; the second points more strongly to a known set of colours. If an exercise specifically practises which, the prompt will say so. Do not label another grammatical phrase an error simply because it frames the choice differently.

Whose asks who owns something: Whose bag is this? It can precede a noun or stand on its own: Whose is this bag? Both structures are possible. In our questions, who's means who is: Who's outside?

Try expanding the contraction. If who is gives the intended meaning, the apostrophe belongs there. If you want to identify an object's owner, use whose without an apostrophe. In other topics, who's can also mean who has; here we practise only present questions with be. Where's, What's and Who's are common in conversation when used in a suitable complete construction.

___ is your room? has no single answer without context. Where is your room? asks for location; How is your room? asks about its condition or your impression. What is your room? can also work in a special context, for example when identifying its role in a game. The exercises name the information required so that you do not have to guess the author's intention.

Different forms can be grammatical while doing different jobs. Is the room ready? checks readiness, while Why isn't the room ready? seeks the reason it is not ready. Negation matters: Why is the room ready? asks a different question. When rebuilding a sentence, do not change the number of objects, the participant, or today to tomorrow.

This lesson targets neutral direct questions: Where is the café? In conversation, The café is where? can be a surprised echo question. It is not a grammatical error, but it does not replace the neutral form in a task that explicitly requires one.

Do not carry inversion inside another sentence. In I know where the café is, the order after where is the café is. In Do you know where the café is?, the outer question has its own structure, while the inner part still remains the café is. This is only a boundary note, not a requirement to master all indirect questions already. For independent practice, imagine a real gap in your knowledge, ask a short question and check that it can elicit exactly the type of answer you need.

First decide whom or what you are talking about. Use am with I, is with he, she or it, and are with you, we or they. In the short-answer construction, the verb remains after the subject. Although Yes or No alone can be a separate conversational answer, do not drop be from Yes, I am or No, I am not.

A name or noun phrase in the question is usually replaced with an appropriate pronoun. In these exercises, use it for one thing and they for several. For people, follow the pronoun given in the situation rather than guessing from a name.

Do not mechanically copy the pronoun or form of be from the question. If someone asks you individually Are you…?, you answer about yourself with I am…. If a group is being addressed and you speak for everyone, the answer begins with we.

If the other person asks about themselves, Am I…?, you answer you are…. With Are we…?, consider who belongs to we. Someone in the group may answer we; someone outside it may answer you. Context determines the pronoun, not the question form alone.

A short answer and a contracted word form are different things. Yes, I am. is short because it does not repeat the quality or action, but am remains in full. When an affirmative answer ends in be, do not write Yes, I’m., Yes, she’s. or Yes, they’re.

If words follow the contraction, they can form a correct full answer: Yes, I’m ready. The restriction does not apply to every sentence beginning with Yes. In an exercise requesting a short answer, a full answer may miss the learning requirement while remaining grammatically correct.

After No, keep the negative within the construction: No, she is not. With is and are, you can contract not: isn’t, aren’t. Alternatively, contract the pronoun with be: she’s not, we’re not. The meaning stays the same.

For I, the ordinary pattern in this lesson is No, I am not. or No, I’m not. Do not put isn’t or aren’t after I in this answer. Full negative forms are correct, and contracted ones are also natural in ordinary speech.

Yes confirms the fact asked about; No denies it. Is the bag heavy? and Is the bag light? ask about different qualities, so the same real bag may require different answers. Do not choose Yes merely because the situation feels positive.

This lesson uses questions with am, is and are. A familiar -ing question such as Are they coming? also allows Yes, they are. The short answer keeps be without repeating coming. This applies the same answer pattern; it is not a separate lesson on tense formation.

Where is the café? needs a location, not Yes, it is. Questions with do, can, was and other forms have their own answer patterns, which are not practised here.

A short answer can begin a longer reply. First confirm or deny the fact, then add a clarification, thanks or a new question if useful. You do not need to repeat the entire phrase from the question merely to make the reply feel complete.

Before replying, check three things: whom or what you are talking about, whether the fact is true, and which form of be matches your subject. If an affirmative short answer ends in be, leave it in full. You can invent ordinary everyday situations for practice.