Question

A question is a way of asking for information. When we ask a question, we want to know something. Questions are important because they help us understand the world and talk to others.

There are different kinds of questions. Some questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no," like "Is this a polar question?" These are called polar questions. Other questions give you choices, such as "Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?" These are called alternative questions. Then there are questions where you can give a full answer, like "What kind of question is this?" These are called open questions.

Questions are studied in linguistics and the philosophy of language. They help us understand how people share and find information when they talk to each other.

Definitions

A question is a way to ask for information. It can mean three things.

First, a question can point to possible answers. This is called the meaning level.

Next, a question is a way of speaking that tries to get information from someone. This is about how we use language.

Finally, questions often follow special grammar rules, like changing the order of words in English. This is about the structure of language.

Sometimes, a sentence might act like a question even if it doesn’t look exactly like one. This is called an indirect way of speaking.

Uses

Questions are used to get information from someone. When we ask a question, we show what we want to know.

Sometimes, a question is asked even though the person already knows the answer. For example, a teacher might ask, "What is the capital of Australia?" to see if a student knows the answer.

Questions can also be used to ask for instructions instead of facts. For example, someone might ask, "When should I open your gift?" and the answer could be, "Open it now."

Questions can also be used in indirect ways. For example, instead of saying, "Pass the salt," someone might ask, "Would you pass the salt?" which sounds more polite.

Sometimes people ask questions for effect, not because they need an answer. For example, someone might say, "Has he lost his mind?" or "Why have I brought you all here? Let me explain..." These are called rhetorical questions.

Semantic classification

Questions can be grouped by the kinds of answers they can have. An open question, like "What is your name?", can have many different answers. A closed question has only a few possible answers.

Closed questions can be yes-no questions, such as "Are you hungry?" or alternative questions, like "Do you want jam or marmalade?"

Yes-no questions ask if something is true and can usually be answered with "yes" or "no". Examples include "Do you take sugar?" and "Should they be believed?"

Alternative questions give two or more choices and expect one of them as the answer. For example, "Are you supporting England, Ireland or Wales?" expects an answer like "England," "Ireland," or "Wales." In English, alternative questions and yes-no questions can look the same, but we understand them differently based on context and how they are said.

Open questions, such as "Where should we go for lunch?", can have many different answers. In English, these questions often start with words like "when," "who," or "what."

Question formation

Questions can be shown in different ways. Some languages use special words like "what" or "when." In English, we often change the order of words to make a question. For example, we say "Does Sam read the newspaper?" instead of "Sam reads the newspaper."

Open questions use words like "what" or "where" to ask for information. For example, "Which shoes should I wear to the party?" is an open question. Some languages put these special words at the start of the sentence.

Yes-or-no questions, called polar questions, can be shown in many ways. English uses word order. Other languages might use special endings or words. For example, in Japanese, there is a word "ka" that shows a question.

We also use a rising tone at the end of questions when speaking. This means going up in pitch, like when asking "You're not using this?" Some places, like Southern California or New Zealand, often use this rising tone in many sentences, but it does not always mean they are asking a question.

Questions can also ask for confirmation. For example, saying "You're John, aren't you?" checks if something is true.

Responses and answers

See also: Yes–no question § Answers, and Answer ellipsis

When someone asks a question, we call their reply a response. For example, if someone asks, "Is Alice ready to leave?" there are many ways to answer:

• "Yes."
• "She's ready."
• "No, she's not."

Some responses don’t say "yes" or "no" directly, like:

• "I don't know."
• "Why do you ask?"
• "She might be."

Other responses might hint at an answer without giving a clear yes or no, like:

• "She's still looking for her wallet."
• "She wasn’t expecting you before 5 o’clock."
• "I'll let you know when she's ready."

Some questions can be tricky because they include a negative word, like "Shouldn't you be working?" These can be confusing because the answer might not seem to match what was asked. For example, if you don’t have a passport, both "Do you have a passport?" and "Don't you have a passport?" are answered with "No." Different languages have special ways to answer these kinds of questions clearly.

Indirect questions

Besides direct questions like Where are my keys?, there are also indirect questions, such as where my keys are. We use these in sentences like "I wonder where my keys are" and "Ask him where my keys are." Indirect questions do not always use the same grammar rules as direct questions. For example, in English, indirect questions do not switch the subject and verb order (compare "where are they?" to "(I wonder) where they are"). Indirect questions can also change tense and other ways that apply to indirect speech.

Main article: indirect questions
Main articles: subordinate clauses, tense, indirect speech

Learning

Questions are very important for learning. They help us start an investigation in science, moving from watching something to guessing what might happen. Students of all ages use questions to understand topics better. Learning to ask good questions is a big part of inquiry-based education.

Teachers might use a method called the Socratic method. In this method, they ask questions to help students find the right answers by themselves. This also helps students learn to think logically. Questions are also used in exams to see how much students have learned.

Main article: scientific method
Main articles: inquiry education, Socratic method
Further information: exams

Origins

Some trained apes like Kanzi, Washoe, and Sarah could understand and answer hard questions. They learned to use words like "who," "what," and "where." But they did not learn to ask questions by themselves. Researchers David and Anne Premack saw that Sarah could understand questions but never asked any. This is different from young children, who often ask many questions.

The ability to ask questions is linked to understanding how sentences are built. Humans often start asking questions very early, even before they can say full sentences. They use special voice tones to show they have a question.