Past Simple: wh-questions
450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten
Question word first, then did, then the subject. When who is the subject, did disappears.
Practice this form
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Getting your first question ready.
The usual order
Four slots: question word — did — subject — plain verb.
When did the shop close?
The past has moved onto did, so the main verb is plain. This holds for every question word.
When who or what is the subject
If the question word is the one doing the action, there is no subject to place after the auxiliary, so the auxiliary drops out and the verb goes back into the past:
- Who called you? — not Who did call you?
- What happened here?
Compare an object question, where the normal pattern returns:
Who did you call? — here you did the calling.
The emphatic form Who did break the window? does exist, but it is used to insist after a denial, not to ask a plain question.
How long and when
Both ask about time, but they take different tenses in the answer:
- When did you move here? — a point in the past, answered with a date.
- How long did you live there? — a finished period, answered with for three years.
If the situation is still going on, the question moves to the Present Perfect: How long have you lived here?
All forms
| Question word | Example | Asking about |
|---|---|---|
| What | What did you say? | the thing |
| Where | Where did they go? | the place |
| When | When did the letter arrive? | the time |
| Why | Why did she leave early? | the reason |
| How | How did you find us? | the way |
| How long | How long did the meeting last? | the duration |
| Who | Who broke the window? | the person — see below |
Examples
Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- What did you do at the beach?
- Where did you go two days ago?
- Why did they go to the movies?
- Where did you find the remote control last night?
- When did he go to the park last weekend?
- When did she go to bed?
- What did he do at work yesterday?
- Why did you leave the dog outside?
- How did he get the ladder up?
- How did she get to work?
- What did they do at the park?
- What did they watch at the movie theater yesterday?
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: Where you went? correct: Where did you go?
The question word does not replace the auxiliary. Did is still needed.
Wrong: Who did break the window? correct: Who broke the window?
When who does the action, there is no auxiliary and the verb keeps its past form.
Wrong: Why did she left? correct: Why did she leave?
After did, the plain form, question word or not.