 Subject and object questions from espressoenglish.net First, let's review the concept of a subject and an object. The subject is the person or thing that performs the action. For example, we want some fruit juice. The subject is we. Karen likes Fred. The subject is Karen. Smoking causes cancer. The subject is smoking. Daniel made a sandwich. The subject is Daniel. The earthquake damaged my house. The subject is the earthquake. Jennifer lied to Sam. The subject is Jennifer. And the object is the person or thing that is acted upon or receives the action. For example, we want some fruit juice. The object is fruit juice. Karen likes Fred. The object is Fred. Smoking causes cancer. The object is cancer. Daniel made a sandwich. The object is a sandwich. The earthquake damaged my house. The object is my house. Jennifer lied to Sam. The object is Sam. Most questions in English are object questions. We want to know about the receiver of the action. Object questions follow the quasm formula. Question word, auxiliary verb, subject, and main verb. When asking an object question in the simple present, we use the auxiliary verbs do and does. For example, what do you want to drink? We want some fruit juice. We are asking about the object fruit juice. Who does Karen like? Karen likes Fred. We are asking about the object of Karen's affection. Fred, this is an object question, so we use the auxiliary verb does. What does smoking cause? Smoking causes cancer. Again, this is an object question. In the simple past, we use the auxiliary verb did with object questions. For example, what did Daniel make? Daniel made a sandwich. We are asking about the object that Daniel made. What did the earthquake damage? The earthquake damaged my house. Who did Jennifer lie to? Jennifer lied to Sam. These are all examples of object questions. We don't know the object, the receiver of the verb, so we ask about it. But sometimes we want to ask about the subject. We don't know the person or thing that performed the action, and we want to find out. This type of question is called a subject question, and subject questions do not use the auxiliary verbs do, does, and did. To form a subject question, use the question word who or what, plus the verb in the simple present or simple past, plus the object. Let's look at some examples. Who wants some fruit juice? We want some fruit juice. This question is asking about the subject. Who is taking the action of wanting the fruit juice? So we say who wants. Don't say who does want. That's incorrect. Here's another example. Who likes Fred? Karen likes Fred. We're asking about the subject, so we use the question word who, plus the verb in the simple present, likes, and then the object. Fred, who likes Fred? Karen likes Fred. Here's another example. What causes cancer? Smoking causes cancer. Again, we are asking about the subject, so we don't use an auxiliary verb. Here are some examples of subject questions in the simple past. Who made a sandwich? Daniel made a sandwich. What damaged your house? The earthquake damaged my house. Who lied to Sam? Jennifer lied to Sam. Because all of these questions are asking about the subject, we do not use the auxiliary verb did. In other verb tenses, like present continuous, present perfect, etc., the auxiliary verbs are forms of the verbs be and have. In these verb tenses, we still use the verbs be and have in both subject and object questions. Let's consider the sentence, Paul is washing the car. That's in the present continuous. The subject question would be, who is washing the car? And the object question is, what is Paul washing? Here's an example in the past continuous. The manager was talking about the problem. To make a subject question, we would ask, who was talking about the problem? And to make an object question, we would ask, what was the manager talking about? Let's consider the present perfect. My parents have spent a thousand dollars on a computer. The subject of that sentence is, my parents. And the object is, one thousand dollars. To form a subject question, we would ask, who has spent a thousand dollars on a computer? And to make an object question, we would ask, how much have your parents spent on a computer? It's the same pattern for the present perfect continuous. I have been working on this project. The subject is I, and the object is this project. The subject question would be, who has been working on this project? And the object question would be, what have you been working on? In the future, the auxiliary verb is will, and we use it in both subject and object questions. For example, this textbook will help the students. The subject is this textbook, and the object is the students. So to form the subject question, ask, what will help the students? And to form the object question, ask, who will this book help? And finally, we can also form the future with going to. For example, we are going to order dessert. The subject is we. To form the subject question, ask, who is going to order dessert? The object of the sentence is dessert. So to form the object question, ask, what are you going to order? When you are going to ask a question in the simple present or simple past using who or what, ask yourself, am I asking about the doer of the action or the receiver of the action? If you're asking about the doer, the subject, then don't use do, does, or did. Ask, who wants fruit juice? Don't ask, who does want fruit juice? Ask, what damaged your house? Don't ask, what did damage your house? If you're asking about the receiver of the action, then you should use do, does, or did in the question. You can click on the link in the video to take a quiz and test yourself on this topic. I hope you found this lesson helpful. One problem is that a lot of English students learn about grammar rules, but they never put them into practice. This leads to having a theoretical knowledge of English, but finding it impossible to use correct English grammar in a practical way. That's why my advanced English grammar course includes both quizzes and writing tasks. Not only can you test yourself, but you can also get feedback on how you are using the grammar in practice.