20 8.
What is used as the subject e.g. What made you angry? or the object
e.g. What do you need? in a question which refers to things. 9.
Which is used when a question concerns choosing from a definite,
known quantity or group e.g. Which pen do you want?.
4. The Formation of Questions
The formation of question structures requires a transformation, a special type of rule that can move an element from one position to another. The
transformation applied in yes-no questions differs from that of wh-questions.
a. Yes-no Questions
To form a yes-no question, e.g. Will the boy leave?, auxiliary inversion is involved. Auxiliaries can precede subjects in inversion structures. According to
O’Grady, Dobrovolsky, and Katamba 1997: 203, there are two steps involved in this operation. In the first step, the usual XP rule is used to form a structure in
which the auxiliary occupies its normal position in Infl, between the subject and the VP as seen in Figure 2.2.
S NP
VP
Det N
Infl V
the boy
will leave
Figure 2.2 The Deep Structure for the Question
Will the boy leave?
O’Grady et al., 1997: 204
21 The second step is called inversion which moves the auxiliary from the Infl
position to a position to the left of the subject. Hence, the result of this step is seen in Figure 2.3.
Will the boy _____ leave?
Quirk and Greenbaum 1973: 192 state that to form yes-no questions, the operator should be placed before the subject. When the sentence has no verb
phrase which can function as an operator, ‘do’ is introduced, e.g.: He likes Mary becomes Does he like Mary?
b. Wh- Questions
According to Quirk and Greenbaum 1973: 196, wh-questions are formed with the aid of one of interrogative words, which are whowhomwhose, what,
which, when, where, how and why. In forming wh- questions, there is a movement
operation called operator movement. It applies to expressions which contain an negative or interrogative operator of some kind Radford, 1997: 267. According
to O’Grady et al. 1997: 203, the transformation that moves the wh- phrase from its position in a deep structure to a position at the beginning of the sentence is
called wh- movement. As the example, O’Grady et al. 1997: 206-207 provide the following question:
What can the child sit on?
Figure 2.3 The Surface Structure for the Question
Will the boy leave?
O’Grady et al., 1997: 205
22 The previous question has a deep structure as depicted in Figure 2.4.
S NP
VP PP
NP Det
N Infl
V P
N the
child can
sit on
what
By applying wh- movement and inversion to the deep structure, the question becomes like what is shown in Figure 2.5.
What can the child ________ sit on ________?
Downing and Locke 2003: 32 write that in wh-interrogative clauses where the wh- element is subject, the subject is placed before the predicate. Similarly,
Quirk and Greenbaum 1973: 197 state that a wh- question is formed not only by the initial placing of the wh- interrogative word but also by the inversion of
subject and operator in all cases except that in which the wh-interrogative word is subject.
Wh movement inversion
Figure 2.4 The Deep Structure for a
Wh- question
O’Grady et al., 1997: 206
Figure 2.5 Wh- Movement and Inversion Transformations
O’Grady et al., 1997: 207
23
5. Uninverted Questions
