#Simple Guide to Asking Open Questions in English

I KEEP six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

Rudyard Kipling - The Elephant's Child

As an English learner you will probably already be familiar with several open questions:-

• What is your name?
• Where do you come from?
• When does the lesson begin?
• Which course should I take?
• Why am I here?
• Who are you?
• How does this website work?
• Whose website is this?

None of the above questions can be answered with a simple, yes or no.

Open questions leave room for a description or opinion, and are more useful in eliciting information.

Open questions are often called Wh. questions:-

There are eight wh-questions - what, when, where, which, who, whom, whose and why and to this list we usually add how as they are all used to elicit particular kinds of information.

You use what when you are asking for information about something.

You use when to ask about the time that something happened or will happen.

You use where to ask questions about place or position.

You use which when you are asking for information about one of a limited number of things.

You use who or whom when you are asking about someone's identity.

You use whose to ask about possession.

You use why to ask for a reason.

You use how to ask about the way in which something is done.