0
Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Questions without do but with who, which, what, or how many

We use do for many questions, e.g. Who did you talk to?, How many people did you talk to?, Which one did you buy?, and What do you do? But for many questions using who, how many, which, or what we do not use do, e.g. Who ate the cake? How many people work here? Which costs more? What happened?

What the general rule? In my examples who, how many, which and what are or relate to the subject. Is that the key or is it less straightforward?

Thanks, Bob
  

Top answer

There is no rule, as there are too many variations to be covered by a few rules - and which have to be learned by experience. For example: Whom did you talk to? You talked to whom?

— Anonymous

  • There is no rule, as there are too many variations to be covered by a few rules - and which have to be learned by experience.
  • For example: Whom did you talk to?
  • You talked to whom?
  • How many people did you talk to?
  • You talked to how many people?
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
There is no rule, as there are too many variations to be covered by a few rules - and which have to be learned by experience. For example:

Whom did you talk to?

You talked to whom?

How many people did you talk to?

You talked to how many people?

Which one did you buy?

You bought which one?

What do you do?

You do what?
0

Related Questions