B2 Question formation

B2 GRAMMAR · QUESTION FORMATION

I would never tell you in a million years!

PICTURE

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Inversion and do/does/did · subject questions · negative questions · indirect questions

Reading

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

Celebrity interviews

Discuss in pairs.

1. Have you ever watched or read any interviews with any famous people?

2. Are there any famous interviewers in your country?

3. If you could ask one of your heroes 3 questions, what would you ask? (and who would you ask them to?)

PICTURE

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B · BEFORE YOU READ

Q&A with Natalie Imbruglia

Every week, The Guardian publishes a short interview with a celebrity who has been in the news recently.

Natalie Imbruglia, 51, joined the Australian soap opera Neighbours at the age of 17. In 1997, she released her debut album, Left of the Middle, which gave her the global hit single Torn. Her new album is coming out in September.

PICTURE

HERE ARE SOME OF HER ANSWERS. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE QUESTIONS WERE?

(you add this)

1. Tinned spaghetti

2. Being late

3. Haribos and wotsits

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Natalie_Imbruglia_2011.jpg

B · READING

Adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jul/18/natalie-imbruglia-singer-actor-new-album-forget-words-on-stage

Ask me anything

"Silence is the best interviewer I know."

What are you most afraid of?

As an Italian, tinned spaghetti. As a child, I was once served it at someone’s house. It was quite frightening.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

Alanis Morissette because, in my earlier career, she was a big influence on me and had a feistiness that you didn’t see much of in women in the industry. Also, she has been very vocal about mental health issues.

What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?

Being late.

What is the trait you most dislike in others?

Not having the ability to say sorry when they’re wrong.

Can you tell me what your most embarrassing moment was?

Forgetting the words to my own songs on stage. I’m a very good mumbler of my own songs. But if you smile and do it confidently, peope don't realise.

Describe yourself in three words

Feisty, vulnerable and fun.

What keeps you awake at night?

I worry a lot about how to juggle being a single parent and working – scheduling keeps me up at night!

What would your superpower be?

I’d clone myself so I could work and be with my son at the same time.

What makes you unhappy?

Living in England when there are too many grey days in a row.

Who is your celebrity crush?

I would never tell you in a million years.

Which book are you ashamed not to have read?

None. I’m not ashamed. I’m dyslexic so I don’t read a lot of books.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

A hairdresser through the week and a star on the weekends.

What was the last lie that you told?

It was to do with Santa Claus around Christmastime.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Junk food – Haribos, Wotsits.

C · DISCUSSION

Discuss the following questions with a partner

1. Which question(s) did you find the most interesting?

2. Which was the least interesting?

3. Which answers did you like best?

4. Which questions don't have an auxiliary verb?

5. Which question is an indirect question?

6. Which question(s) ends in a preposition?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Inversion, prepositions and the subject-question trap

a) Have you been in government for six years?

b) What exactly are you planning to spend it on?

c) Who approved this? vs Who did the minister blame?

1. In (a), what happens to the auxiliary and the subject? With present and past simple (no auxiliary), what do we add - and where?

2. In (b), where does the preposition go? Is On what are you planning to spend it? natural in speech?

3. The subject-question trap. In (c), why does the first question have no did while the second one does? Which word is the subject in each?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Negative and indirect questions

a) Isn't it true that the report was ready in March?

b) Could you tell me when your office first saw the report?

c) I wonder whether you'd say the same to the families affected.

1. What do negative questions like (a) do - ask for new information, or signal an expectation, check something, or show surprise?

2. In (b), compare: When did your office see it? becomes ...when your office first saw it. What two changes happen inside an indirect question? (Think: word order, and do/did.)

3. Look at (c). I wonder... is not even a question - no question mark needed. Which other expressions take this "embedded" word order? (I'm not sure..., I can't remember..., I'd like to know..., Do you have any idea...)

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete the rules with one word in each gap.

• Invert subject and ______ (or modal); with present or past simple, add ______ before the subject.

• When who / what / which is the ______ of the verb, don't use do/did: Who approved this?

• Indirect questions: introduce with a polite phrase, then ______ order and no do/did; use if / ______ when there is no question word.

• A negative question (Didn't your office see it?) signals ______ - you already believe you know the answer.

CAREFUL

A subject question keeps statement order anyway, so inside an indirect question nothing changes: I'd like to know who made that decision - not who did make.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Rewrite or complete as indicated.

1. (Order the words) worried · what · you · exactly · are · about -> ______?

2. Who ______ (design) this building? It's extraordinary. (subject question)

3. Who ______ (you / meet) at the conference? Anyone useful? (object question)

4. ______ it obvious that something was wrong? You were there! (negative question with be, past)

5. Could you tell me what time ______ (the meeting / start)?

6. I can't remember where ______ (I / leave) my badge.

7. I'd like to know who ______ (make) the final decision. (subject question inside an indirect question - careful!)

8. Do you have any idea ______ she resigned? (add the right question word)

F · FREER PRACTICE

Your own Q&A

Role-play. Think of questions that you would like to ask a celebrity. Interview your partner as if they were a celebrity.

Think of 8 interesting questions to ask

Use a variety of question types

When you are done, switch roles and answer your partner's questions in an interesting way.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

D PART 1 1 The auxiliary and subject invert; with present/past simple we add do/does/did before the subject. 2 At the end; no - fronting the preposition sounds stiff and unnatural in speech. 3 In Who approved this?, who is the subject, so no did; in Who did the minister blame?, the minister is the subject and who is the object.

D PART 2 4 They signal expectation, check something believed to be true, or show surprise. 5 The word order becomes statement order, and do/did disappears (the tense moves onto the main verb). 6 I'm not sure..., I can't remember..., I'd like to know..., Do you have any idea... (and I wonder... itself).

RULES auxiliary; do/does/did · subject · statement; whether · expectation.

E 1 What exactly are you worried about? · 2 designed · 3 did you meet · 4 Wasn't it obvious...? · 5 the meeting starts · 6 I left · 7 who made (the subject question keeps the same order anyway) · 8 why.