Asking questions in a different way

Question

Hi.If I want to ask someone about the writer of a book, I should ask him like this: Who did write this book? Now, can I ask the same question like this: Who wrote this book?I know that this phrase is wrong in a general speaking, but how about very informal speaking with my friend? I mean I speak with my friend and you know, we will speak very informal with each other.

Vorpar · Accepted Answer

"Who wrote this book?" is correct.

"Who did write this book?" is incorrect.

Jeff_Mosawy · Answer

Whaaaaat????? Are you sure that "who did write this book?" is incorrect?

Howww??? As I know when we want to asking a question, we should add a do/does/did, right?

For example: What do you think? or What does he think? or What did you think?

Please give me some information.

Thank you.

Tenacious Learner · Answer

Jeff_MosawyAs I know when we want to asking a question, we should add a do/does/did, right?
For example: What do you think? or What does he think? or What did you think?

... when we wan to ask a question ...

Jeff_Mosawy is very right. If you have a look at your questions, all of them have a subject, 'you/he/you'.

When you ask for the subject, you don't use an auxiliary verb.

When you include the subject in your question, if needed, you use an auxiliary verb.

"Who wrote this book?" Here you are asking for the subject, for the person that wrote this book.

"Who did write this book?" Here you have the auxiliary 'did' but no subject after it. Why? Because you are asking for it. Do you see the error now?

TS.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Jeff_MosawyAre you sure that "who did write this book?" is incorrect?

Do/does/did is not used if an interrogative pronoun is the subject or part of the subject:

Who wrote this book?

Whose friend wrote this book?

I forgot something. Many Anglo-Saxon grammarians don't consider whose a pronoun here, but that has no bearing on the grammatical structure.

What happened?

But:

Whom did you see?

Whose friend did you see?

CB

Jeff_Mosawy · Answer

Yes. I did understand what my problem was. Thank you all :X

So here I have wrote some questions and I hope you guys tell me do all them are correct or not?

But first off, I am seeing that usually we are not allowed to use do/does/did to ask a question when we use who, right?

Here are the question:

1. Who went there?

2. Who saw her?

3. What did they tell you?

4. What did you do with my computer?

5. Where did you lose my book?

Thank you all once again.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Jeff_MosawySo here I have wrote some questions and I hope you guys tell me do all them are correct or not?

Terrible!

I havewritten some questions and I hope you guys tell me if they are all correct [or not].

Jeff_MosawyBut first off, I am seeing that usually we are not allowed to use do/does/did to ask a question when we use who, right?

But first of all, I see/understand that we (are not allowed to use) / we can't use do/does/did to ask a question when we use who, right?

Wrong. In informal English you can say Who did you see? (In formal English: Whom did you see?) Also: Who[m] did you come with?

All your questions are correct.

CB

Hrsanei · Answer

Yes. I did understand what my problem was. Thank you all :X

So here I have written some questions and I hope you guys tell me if all of them are correct or not?

But first of all, I see that we are not usually allowed to use do/does/did to ask a question with who, right?

NO, As explained earlier, if you are asking question about the subject, you do not need to use auxiliary verbs. But it does not mean that, questions with who are always without auxilary verbs.

Note the following questions.

Who did you talk to?

Who do I have to talk to?

In the above questions, who is not a subject but an object, the preposition to is a good indication here.

Here are the question:

1. Who went there? Correct

2. Who saw her?Correct

3. What did they tell you?Correct

4. What did you do with my computer?Correct

5. Where did you lose my book?Correct

Thank you all once again.

Asking questions in a different way

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