4 Most Common English Conversations – Part 3

Information Questions

We talked in Part 2 about “Yes/No Questions,” so now let’s talk about “Information Questions.”
There are six types of “Content” or “Information Questions.”
Each of them begins with one of the following content question markers:
WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE HOW WHY

The verbal intonation for these questions are NOT like Yes/No questions. In a Yes/No question the tone goes up at the end, expecting either a “Yes,” “No,” or perhaps an “I don’t know” answer. For example,

“Is this Randy’s pen?” In this question the sound or tone of “pen” is higher than the rest of the words in the sentence.

However with “Content” or “Information Questions” the tone is the same as in a normal declarative sentence. For example, in the sentence,

“Where is Randy’s pen?” both “where” and “pen” are typically stressed but “where” has a higher tone than “pen”. In this question the tone for “pen” is down or “lower” than “where”.

The same is true in the use of all of the Content Question words listed below: The stress is on the first word: The Content Question Word [Who, What, When, Where, How, Why].

The power of these questions cannot be overstated for language learners. Mastering these questions in conversation will guarantee your rapid English learning and future as a fluent English speaker.