ESOL Sc/E3.3b Ask questions to obtain personal or factual information
Sc/E3.3 Make requests and ask questions to obtain information in familiar and unfamiliar contexts
Sc/E3.3b Ask questions to obtain personal or factual information
- Use a range of question words, including whose. Example: Whose bag is this? Whose is this bag?
- Form questions of both the open type and the yes/no type in a range of tenses, e.g.: (a) present perfect (b) present continuous - with appropriate intonation. Example: Ask questions of a new acquaintance in a social situation, e.g.: Have you been here long? How long have you worked there? A couple of months, is it? Have you ever been to ...? Have you finished yet? Are you working at the moment? What are you doing at the weekend? When will you see her?
- Form alternative questions, including comparative questions, with awareness of the tendency for intonation to rise on the first alternative and fall on the second. Example: Ask for information about transport, e.g.: Which is quicker, train or bus?
- Adapt register to suit the relationship between speakers, e.g. by using some indirect forms of questioning, such as the use of embedded question forms. Example: Ask for information about an event in the past, e.g. reporting an incident: What happened? Could you perhaps tell us what happened? Please tell us what you saw.
- Understand some of the cultural conventions regarding acceptable questions to ask, e.g. in Britain it is not usual to ask how much a person earns.
