a study on structural and semantic patterns of wh-questions in english = nghiên cứu về mô hình cấu trúc và ngữ nghĩa của câu hỏi có từ hỏi trong tiếng anh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES





NGUYỄN VĂN CƯƠNG


A STUDY ON STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC PATTERNS
OF WH-QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ MÔ HÌNH CẤU TRÚC VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÂU HỎI
CÓ TỪ HỎI TRONG TIẾNG ANH

M.A MINOR THESIS




Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15



HANOI, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES





NGUYỄN VĂN CƯƠNG


A STUDY ON STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC PATTERNS
OF WH-QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ MÔ HÌNH CẤU TRÚC VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÂU HỎI
CÓ TỪ HỎI TRONG TIẾNG ANH

M.A MINOR THESIS




Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. VÕ ĐẠI QUANG


HANOI, 2011

iii
ABSTRACT
The thesis entitled “A Study on structural and semantic patterns of Wh-
questions in English” is to analyze and illustrate the types of wh-questions and their
semantic features. This one is also to investigate the students' categories of mistakes when
using wh-questions, find out the causes, suggest some possible solutions to these matters,
and propose several pedagogical implications for the teachers at the research site. This
study is divided into three major sections. The first one sets out the rationale of the study as
well as the aims, the methodology and the design of the study. The second section contains
three chapters. Chapter 1 offers the most relevant factors involving a wh-question such as
notions of wh-questions, wh-rhetorical questions, operators, wh-words and their semantic
features relating information structure, presupposition and theme and rheme. Chapter 2 is
to describe the types of wh-questions based on structures and discourse and the types of
presuppositions in wh-questions. Chapter 3 is the study about the mistakes that the students
in Kinh Mon high school often make in using a wh-question. The data were collected
among 100 eleven grade students in Kinh Mon high school by means of questionnaires.
The findings highlighted students’ categories of mistakes including wrong use of wh-
words, wrong use of operators, non-inversion failure and some other subtypes. Through the
findings, the author also assumes some causes of the mistakes and suggests some possible
solutions in order to help students avoid committing these types of mistakes.

.


iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
Retention i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii

Table of contents iv
List of tables vii
Part 1: Introduction 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Objectives of the study 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods of the study 3
6. Design of the study 3
Part 2: Development 4
Chapter 1 : Literature review 4
1.1. English questions. 4
1.1.1 Definition of question 4
1.1.2. Definition of Wh-questions in English 5
1.1.2.1 Wh-information question 5
1.1.2.2 Wh-rhetorical questions 6
1.2. English operators 6
1.3. Question words 7
1.3.1. Wh-word functions 7
1.3.1.1. Wh-words as interrogative pronouns 7
1.3.1.2 Wh-words as determiners 10
1.3.1.3. Wh-words as adverbs 10
1.4. Given - New Information Structure 12
1.4.1. Given information 12
1.4.2. New information 12
1.4.3 Information structure 12
1.5. Theme -Rheme Structure 13


v

1.5 Theme- Rheme Structure in wh-questions 14
1.6. Presupposition 15
Chapter 2 : The structural and semantic patterns
of English wh-questions 16
2.1. STRUCTURAL PATTERNS OF ENGLISH WH-QUESTIONS 16
2.1.1. Wh-words as subjects of the wh-questions 16
2.1.2. Non-subject wh-questions 18
2.1.3. Verb-oriented questions 19
2.1.4. Wh-questions with prepositions 20
2.1.5. Emphatic wh-questions. 21
2.1.6. Negative structures in Wh- questions 21
2.1.7. Response questions 21
2.1.7.1. Short response questions 21
2.1.7.2. Wh-echo questions 22
2.1.8. Multiple wh-element Questions 23
2.1.9. Wh-rhetorical questions 24
2.1.10. Formulaic wh-questions 26
2.2. SEMANTIC PATTERNS OF ENGLISH WH-QUESTIONS 28
Chapter 3: Errors made by eleventh grade students
in using wh-questions. 31
3.1. Introduction 31
3.2.Setting 31
3.2.1. Setting of the study 31
3.2.2 Participants 31
3.3. Research instrument - Questionnaire 32
3.2.1. Objectives of the survey questionaire 32
3.2.2. The Survey questionnaire 32
3.4. Procedures 33
3.5. Findings 33
3.5.1. Wrong use of wh-word 35

3.5.2. Wrong use of operator 37


vi
3.5.3. Non-inversion failure 39
3.5.4. Other types 40
3.6. The causes of Vietnamese students’ mistakes 41
3.7. Solutions to the problems 42
3.8. Summary of findings 43
PART 3: CONCLUSION 44
1. Conclusions 44
2. Implications of the study for teaching English wh-questions 45
3. Limitations of the study 45
4. Suggestions for further research 46

REFERENCES 47
APPENDIX I



vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The number and percentage of each category of mistake
Table 2: Number and percentage of mistakes concerning the use of wh-word
Table 3: Number and percentage of misused operators
Table 4: Number and percentage of inversion mistakes
Table 5: Number and percentage of other types of mistakes

1
Part 1: Introduction
1. Rationale
It is undeniable that English has been an essential means of communication and more
and more Vietnamese students are aware of the importance of English to their study and their
future. The ability to communicate clearly and efficiently in English contributes to the success
of the learners at school and later in every phase of life. However, the sad fact is that students‟
English proficiency especially their ability to communicate in English orally does not really
meet employers‟ demand.
At Kinh Mon High School, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is
considered as a major subject for the high school examination. It is taught with the purpose
that students have some basic knowledge of English in order to communicate and to use it as a
key to science and technology. However, there still exist many difficulties facing the students.
They often keep quiet during speaking lessons; they mind speaking English. There are many
students who have good knowledge of grammar, can do reading and writing exercises
wonderfully but they cannot express themselves in English and find it hard to make questions
to discuss during the speaking lessons. They often make mistakes in using the correct question
words and in giving the right form of a wh-question.
Besides making the discussion during a speaking lesson successful, questions also play
an important role in our daily life. We are not able to keep communicating going on well
without asking questions. We ask in order to exchange information, ideas, feeling and
knowledge. On the other hand, we sometimes ask questions not for the above purposes but for
confirmation, refusal irony or reply avoidance. It is undeniable that questions can not be
missed in communication.
English wh-questions have long been the subject of the study of many researchers and
linguists. Each of them investigates some aspects of this type of questions. Their study on
English wh-questions have provided a great help for Vietnamese learners of English. There are
some MA thesis that pay attention to English Wh-questions. Hoa N.T.X (1996) studies
English questions in terms of S-P inversion. Meanwhile, Ms Nguyet D.T.M (1996) pays her
attention to the aspect of English questions concerning teachers' questions and politeness

strategies. And Tuyet L.T.A contrasts English wh-questions and their equivalents in

2
Vietnamese in terms of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features. Especially there is also a
Ph.D dissertation investigating English Wh-questions. Quang V.D (2000) looks at contrative
analysis of questions in English and Vietnamese in terms of semantic and pragmatic features
in his Ph.D project. Generally, such researchers mentioned above studied English wh-
questions from different angles and mostly either focus on syntactic and semantic features of
English Wh-questions or provide a theoretically general picture of wh-questions between the
two languages, English and Vietnamese. However, besides such certain contributions, there
still exist some gaps that need dealing with.
There are a lot of aspects concerning English wh-questions, however, in this paper the
author would like to devote all my interest in the structural and semantic patterns of Wh-
questions in English. Then he would like to investigate the kinds of mistakes in using wh-
questions the students in Kinh Mon High School often make. Basing on the findings, the
author can make some suggestions in order to help the students to overcome these difficulties
and make questions fluently.

2. Aims of the study
The aims of the study are to:
- help raise the students' awareness of structural and semantic features of English
wh-questions.
- deepen the author's knowledge for the improvement of teaching English wh-questions to
Vietnamese learners of English.

3. Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are to :
- examine the structural and semantic patterns of English Wh-questions.
- identify some common errors and mistakes made by Vietnamese students and present
some suggested solutions.

The objectives of the study can be realized through the research questions:
1. What are the structural and semantic patterns of English wh-questions?

3
2. What categories of mistakes do the students in Kinh Mon High school often make in
using English wh-questions?
3. What should be done to improve the students' skill in using English wh-questions?
It is hoped that the findings from this study will be of some benefits to teachers and
students at Kinh Mon high school.

4. Scope of the study
The study on structural and semantic patterns of Wh-questions in English focuses on
English wh-questions from the perspectives of structural and semantic features. There are two
types of wh-questions will be focused: wh-information questions and wh-rhetorical questions.
The author also conducted a questionnaire to find out the mistakes made by Vietnamese
students, and from these mistakes, some possible solutions to the problems identified.

5. Methods of the study
A combination of different methods of analysis will be used in this study. Firstly, the
author applies the descriptive method to find out the structural and semantic patterns of the
English wh-questions. The study is conducted by carefully collecting materials from various
sources to have full-blown information of English wh-questions. Secondly, the author designs
a questionaire in order to find out what categories of mistakes the studetnts often make when
using wh-questions. The students' errors and mistakes will be analized. All comments,
remarks, recommendations and conclusion are based on the data analysis.
The sheets of questionaire will be collected randomly so that this research will help to
gain reliable data and a close investigation into the problems that the students are encountering

6. Design of the study
This study is divided into three main parts:

- Part 1 is the Introduction of the study. It includes the rationale for choosing the topic, the
aims, the objectives, the scope, the methods and design of the study.
- Part 2 contains three chapters, in which Chapter 1 provides readers some theoretical
background on English questions in general, wh-words and their functions and the

4
operators and their functions in English question in brief. Moreover, some basic terms (
such as given and new information, theme and rheme, and presuppositions ) are also
discussed. Chapter 2 is also the main part of the study, provides the detailed analysis of
English wh-questions in term of structural and semantic patterns of wh-questions in
English. Chapter 3 presents a small research of the author to find out some common
mistakes made by Vietnamese students in using English wh-questions and to suggest some
possible solutions.
- Part 3 is the conclusion of the study. It also gives some implication for teaching and
learning wh-questions and some suggestions for further studies.

5
Part 2: Development
Chapter 1 : Literature review
This chapter deals with the relevant matters in wh-questions to help language learners
understand how to use English wh-questions effectively. The relevant matters are:
- The operators and their functions
- Question words and how they are used
- Given and new information
- Theme and rheme in wh-questions
- Presuppositions

1.1. English questions.
1.1.1 Definition of questions
There exist a lot of definitions of a question. The most common one is that questions
are sentences which seek information of some kind. They are followed by a question mark (?).
According to the Longman Dictionary of English language a question is a " command or an
interrogative expression used to elicit information or a respond, or to test knowledge". Lynch
( 1991) characterizes a question as an utterance with a particular illucutionary forces. Quirk et
al ( 1970 and 1985) defines a question as a semantic class used to seek information on a
specific subject.
And another linguist, Givón (1990), observes that languages employ at least three, non-
exclusive, devices to signal a question:
(i) intonation;

(ii), the addition of morphology or independent lexical items ("Q-markers");
(iii), a different word-order.
1

Moreover, Quirk ( 1978) states that an utterance can be called a question if it fulfills one of the
following criteria; the operator is placed in front of the subject, an interrogative or wh-element
takes the initial position or intonation is raised at the end of the utterance.


1


6
1.1.2. Definition of Wh-questions in English
According to Quirk. et al ( 1978), wh-questions are formed with the aid of one of the
following interrogative words ( or wh-words or sometimes called wh-elements).
This type of question is known as a wh-question because such a question begins with one of a
series of words beginning with wh These include who, whom, whose, which, where, when,
why and how, although how does not begin with wh
Unlike yes-no questions, wh-questions generally have falling intonation. However,
they sometimes have rising tone, which concerns the interest in the answer.
A wh-question is often formed according to the following rule.
- the wh- elelment ( ie the clause element containing the wh-word) come first in the sentence
apart from some conjuncts such as on the other hand.
- the wh-word itself takes first position in the wh-element. However, in more formal style, the
preposition precedes the complement.
For questions that are seeking information, you place an interrogative-word before the
inversion, such as:
E.g. 1. What are you studying?
The answer here will be the 'what', and you should see that in the statement form (of a full

answer), this information replaces the interrogative pronoun and becomes the object:
I am studying English.
Because all you are asking for is the 'what', you can also give a very short answer:
What are you studying? English.

1.1.2.1 Wh-information questions
A wh-question is an open question ( i.e it can have any number of answers). In a wh-
question, a search for a missing piece of information, the element that functions as theme
called wh-element requests this information. This element expresses the nature of missing
piece; " who, what, when, how, etc." So in a wh-interrogative, the wh-element is put first no
matter what functions it has in the mood structure of the clause like: subject, adjunct, conjunct
or complement, etc. The meaning is I want to tell you the person, thing, time, manner,etc.

7
Unlike yes/no questions, wh-information questions always contain a presupposition.
For instance, when we ask the question " What did John do?" we presume that John did in fact
do something.
Questions
Presumed information
2a. How did they do it?
They did it somehow
2b. Where did John go?
John went somewhere
2c. Whose book was stolen?
Someone's book was stolen
2d. What has he done?
He has done something
2e. Who is doing it?
Someone is doing it

1.1.2.2 Wh-rhetorical questions
Sometimes a question using a wh-word is a rhetorical question. Rhetorical questions
take the form of questions, but they are not really used for seeking information. In fact they do
not expect an answer at all. In many cases they are simply expressing a strong opinion or
feeling of the part of the speaker, rather than expecting a response from the person they are
speaking to:
E.g. 1. Who does she think she is? She had no right to use my computer.
2. What on earth do you think you are doing? It's my private land.

1.2. English operators.
In a wh-question, the wh-word is often followed by a verb and this verb sometimes
takes the form of a modal verb such as can, could, may, might, etc, or an auxiliary verb, such
as do, be or have, etc.
These modal verbs or auxiliaries are called operators. Operator is the term that is given to the
part of the verbal group that comes before the split in a question.
E.g. 1. Is the little girl sleeping?
2. Does she still love you?
3. How long have you been waiting for me?
In the three examples above, Is, Does and have are the operators. Operators are very
necessary when we want to form a question. In an English question, there is often the

8
inversion of subject and the operator. If there is no auxiliary in the statement, do is introduced
as the operator in the question. Lexical be and have in British English can also act as the
operator:
E.g. 1. What do you often do in your free time?
2. How are the students?
3. What have you here?

1.3. Question words.

Question words are often introduced by wh-form. A question word is used to ask for a
supply to the missing information. They are called wh- question words because they generally
begin with wh-, with an exception being How. The wh-word may be a pronoun, an adverb, or a
determiner ( i.e. it introduces a noun phrase). The question words are who, whom, whose,
which, what, where, when, why, and how.

1.3.1. Wh-word functions
1.3.1.1. Wh-words as interrogative pronouns.
Wh-words in questions can be called interrogative pronouns because these two kinds
of pronouns share some charactiristics. According to Quirk ( 1978), both of them are used to
replace nouns, rather whole noun phrases, since they can not generally occur with determiners
such as the definite article or premodification. He also states that there are five wh-words can
be used as pronouns such as who, whom, whose, what, and which.
Who, whom and whose are subjective, objective, and genitive case forms respectively,
and have personal gender. However, what and which do not have gender or case distinction.
They can be used to ask questions about not only persons but about things.
As a pronoun, the interrogative pronouns can be used as the subjects, objects of the
questions.
Most of the interrogative pronouns can act as the subjects of the wh-questions except
whom, even whose can also appear alone as an anaphoric noun phrase:
E.g. 1. Who taught you some Italian?
2. Which is his father's car?

9
3. What happened?
4. Whose won?
Who, whom, which, and what can be used as an object of a verb or a prepositional
complement.
E.g. 5. Who(m) did you meet at the party last night?
6. Which do you want to buy, this one or that one?

7. What did your friend give you yesterday?
However, when used as an object, whom is considered to be more formal and only whom can
normally follow the preposition. In daily conversations, who is normally used.
E.g. 8. To whom are you writing?
9. Who are you writing to?
10. Whom are you writing to?
Both who and whom can take initial position, as in (9) and (10), leaving the preposition
deferred at the end of the clause.
Unlike who, whom, what can be used both with personal and non-personal reference.
However, when used to refer to people what as a pronoun is limited to questions about
profession, role, status,etc.
E.g. 11. A: What's the man overthere?
B: He's a doctor.
As a pronoun, what acts as a head of a noun phrase to identify certain kinds of property,
profession, religion, race, nationality, etc.
E.g. 12. A: What's your address?
B: It's 52 Quang Trung, Hai Duong.
13. What is your nationality?
B: I'm Vietnamese.
14. A: What is your father doing now?
B: He's repairing my old bike.
15. A: What was the concert like last night?
B: It was great.
What can occur in prepositional complements with the preposition either in intitial or in final

10
(deferred) position; but with an initial preposition, the construction is formal and rather rare.
E.g. 16. What are they looking for?
17. About what are they talking?
Quirk (1978) divides interrogative pronouns into two subtypes: Indefinite and definite

interrogatives. Who and which can be used to refer to persons while what and which are used
to refer to things.
E.g 18. Who is the most famous footballer in your country?
19. Which is the most famous footballer, Hong Son, Huynh Duc or Cong Minh?
20. What is your favourite book?
21. Which do you prefer, this book or that one?
In the example 18, who is used as an indefinite interrogative pronoun which refers to person.
In this question, the addresser does not refer to any footballer in particular. He asks a general
question. Which in question 19 refers to person and which in question 21 refers to things.
However, both of them refer to limited choice. Which here implies limited number of
footballers or books. And what in question 20 is used in general, too.
1.3.1.2. Wh-words as determiners
According to Quirk ( 1978), the three question words whose, what and which can be used as a
determiner. Therefore, they can introduce a personal as well as a non-personal noun phrase:
E.g. 1. Whose house is that?
2. What colour is your car?
3. Which coat is yours, this one or that one?
Like the interrogative pronouns (which and what), what is used as an indefinite determiner and
which serves as a definite determiner. These two determiners have both personal and non-
personal reference.
Interrogative determiners with personal nouns:
E.g. 4a. What pop singer do you like best?
4b. Which pop singer do you like best, My Linh or Hong Nhung?
Interrogative determiners with non-personal nouns:
E.g. 5a. What kind of mobile phone are you using?
5b. Which kind of mobile phone are you using, Nokia or Samsung?

11
In the pairs above, which implies that the choice is made from a limited number of alternatives
which exist in the context of discussion. The alternatives are often made explicit.

Sometimes, which can be used without being made explicit. However, in that case the speaker
who asks such question assumes that there is a definite set of alternatives from which a choice
can be made.
E.g. 6. Which T-shirt would you like to try on?
In this case, a shop keeper wishes to ask a customer who wants to try on a T-shirt in a fashion
shop.
1.3.1.3 Wh-word as adverbs.
After having deeply researched wh-pronouns, I would like to consider the next open
word clauses, that is adverb. According to Huddleston ( 1984) " an adverb is traditionally
defined as a word that modifies a verb, an object or an adverb."
Where and When
As an adverb, where and when occur as head of a phrase and function as complement
of goal or complement/ adjunct of a place:
E.g. 1. Where are you going for this summer vacation?
2. When did he start his work yesterday?
Moreover, they can be found in some cases in noun phrases which act as subjects:
E.g. 1. When would be most suitable for you?
2. Where would be good for your holiday?
Why - an adverb
We often find that the wh-word why often heads a phrase which functions as an adjunct of a
reason. It is often used to ask about a reason or a purpose of an action:
E.g. 1. Why did you give him that book?
2. Why were you absent from the class yesterday morning?
How - an adverb ( degree or manner) or an adjective.
We often use How to ask about the manner or degree. It can also be used with an adjective to
ask about the quality of something.
E.g. 1. How did he complete his work?
2. How old is your new English teacher?

12

1.4. Given-New Information Structure
1.4.1. Given information
Given information is a linguistic term that Halliday (1976) uses to define the
information that " expresses what the speaker is presenting as information that is recoverable
from some source or other in the environment - the situation or the preceding text." Moreover,
according to Kuno (1972), " given information is an element in a sentence that represents old,
predictable information." A given piece of information is common knowledge, a part of the
extralinguistic context or something that is previously established in the discourse.
Given information can also be identified in term of intonation. It is also spoken with
little stress and it is often reduced, abbreviated or ellipsed. Most kinds of discourse have
implicit speakers and addressees, interactors always take first and second speaker pronouns to
be given information.

1.4.2 New information
Halliday (1976) defines new information according to recoverability. He predicts that
"what is labeled new is information that the speaker presents as not being recoverable from the
preceding discourse." And Kuno also identifies new information basing on its predictability.
He states that " new information is something that can not be predicted." Therefore, we can
say that new information is information that is assumed by the addresser NOT.
- to be known to/assumed by the addressee
- previously established in the discourse
New information is usually stressed and expressed in more elaborate fashions.

1.4.3 Information structure
The ability to understand a sentence or a text depends on the order of the information.
In both spoken and written language, given or old information should put in front of new
information or we can say the given information is placed in the left side of the sentence or in
the theme position and new information follows the given, or known information.
The information structure should obey the following rules

13
- Sentences should begin with the information already introduced to the reader.
This is achieved through beginning a sentence with words or phrases from the
preceding sentence.
- Sentences should end with new information that is unfamiliar to the reader.
This new information can then become the given information in the next
sentence.
2


1.5.1. Theme-Rheme Structure.
Theme and Rheme are the fundamental structural patterns in the English language.
According to Halliday ( 1994) "Theme is indicated by its position in the clause In writing
English we signal that an item has thematic status by putting it first. No other signal is
necessary "
For example, in small context such as a simple sentence, theme and rheme can be described as
followed.
E.g 1. My father has given up smoking
My father
has given up smoking
Theme
Rheme
In the sentence above, the theme of the sentence is the subject my father and the rheme
is the rest of the sentence ( the predicate). The subject is what we are talking about and the
predicate is what we say about it. However, the theme is not always the subject of the sentence.
Let's consider the following example.
E.g 2. Once upon a time, an old man and his wife lived on the shore of the blue sea.
In this sentence, the expression Once upone a time is the theme but it does not correspond to the
subject which is an old and his wife. We can make this clearer graphically.
Once upon a time

an old man and his wife
lived on the shore of the blue
sea
Adjunct
Subject
Predicate
Theme
Rheme

2
source : www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/Old_before_New.pdf

14
Therefore, we can see that the Theme does not always correspond to the grammatical subject of
the sentence.
What we have said so far helps us to identify the Theme. We have now to define it. Once
again Halliday can help us. Here is his definition of both the Theme and the Rheme.

The Theme is the element which serves as the point of
departure of the message; it is that with which the clause is
concerned. The rest of the message, the part in which the
Theme is developed is called the Rheme.
(Halliday 1995: 37)
3

Summing up, we can say that English sentences start with a Theme, the first element in the
sentence, which normally contains information which we somehow know about and that they
continue with a Rheme, which normally tells us something new about the Theme.

1.5.2. Theme and Rheme in wh-questions

We have been saying that the function of Theme is to indicate “that with which the clause is
concerned”. Clearly questions are, usually, concerned with getting informattion or answers, so in
a sentence like:
1. When did Mary buy the car?
The Theme is made up of the wh-element. The wh-element is that the speaker wants to know.
When
did Mary buy the car?
Theme
Rheme
The wh-word can stand on its own, or the whole wh-phrase may make up the Theme.
What kind of book
did you give your daughter on her last birthday?
Theme
Rheme



3



15
1.6. Presupposition.
In the preceding part, information structure and theme and rheme have been discussed. In
everyday context, a question is often made to ask for some information that the speaker has
not known. However, the speaker assumes that certain information has already known by the
hearer. As we know that such information will generally not be stated and therefore we will
count it as part of what is communicated not said. The following part is designed to illustrate
some aspects of implicit assumption-presupposition.
It can not be denied that presuppostion is of great importance when one wants to produce as

well as comprehend a speech act. There have been a large number of definitions of
presuppositions which present different views of scholars towards the concept.
Common views consider presupposition to be a background belief, relating to an utterance. It
is what both the addresser and addressee already know and assume so that the utterance will
be appropriate in context. It will generally remain a necessary assumption whether the
utterance is placed in the form of an assertion, denial, or question, and can be associated with
a specific lexical item or grammatical feature in the utterance.
4


There have existed many definitions by various linguists.
According to Hudson (2000) " a presupposition is something assumed ( presupposed) to be
true in a sentence which asserts other information". And Brown and Yule (1983) defines that
"Presupposition is the assumption the speaker makes about what the hearer is likely to accept
without challenge". On the other hand, Levison (1997) states that one of the properties of the
presupposition is that they are liable to evaporate in certain context, either immediate
linguistic or the less immediate discourse context, or in circumstance where contrary
assumptions are made.
5

In short, presupposition occurs when the utterance tells the hearer that what the speaker
is talking is quite clear, whether in positive or negative form.


4

5
www.uobabylon.edu.iq/ /articles/Entailment%20&%20Presupposition.pdf

16

Chapter 2
The structural and semantic patterns of English wh-questions
In the last chapter, the author has deeply discussed some relevant matters relating to
English wh-questions, in this chapter, the author would like to examine the structural pattern
of the wh-questions in general and then he will thoroughly illustrate the use of wh-questions in
daily discourse and finally he will discuss some types of semantic features of the wh-questions
- presuppositions.

2.1. STRUCTURAL PATTERNS OF ENGLISH WH-QUESTIONS
2.1.1. Wh-words as subjects of the wh-questions.
In this first part of chapter 2, the author would like to discuss in order to find out the
structure for the wh-questions in which the question words act as the subjects of the sentences.
When asking about the subjects of the wh-questions, we often use such wh-words as
what, who, whose, which, how much+ noun(noncount) and how many + Noun ( pl).
For example: 1. Who helped you to finish the work yesterday?
2. What happened last night?
3. How much money is spent on advertising everyday?
4. How many people took part in the games last Sunday?
When the wh-element acts as the subject of the question, there is no change in the order
of the sentence element. The wh-element stands at the beginning of the question. In such
tenses as the simple present and the simple past, we do not add auxiliary verbs like do or did.
Let's consider the two first examples. In the example 1, we see that the
subject is who, and the predicate is everything else. The question is formed by
putting the wh- word who into the subject position. The question is about the
subject of the sentence. The speaker knows everything-someone helped you to
finish the work yesterday, but doesn't know who. In the second one, the subject
is what, and the predicate is everything else. The question is about the subject
of the sentence: something happened. The question is formed by putting the

17

wh- word what into the subject position. No other changes are needed to make
a question-other than the question mark, of course.
6


A subject wh-question is an open question, it means that this kind of question can have any
number of answers. It asks about missing information the speaker needs about the subject of
the sentence (performer of the action). A question element needs to precede the subject in
order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according to the following rule.
To form a subject Wh-question in English, replace the subject with a question word,
using who (for people) or what (for non-person). The word order is that of a positive sentence.
There is no auxiliary verb in subject wh-questions in the Present Simple and Past Simple
tenses. The question word simply replaces the subject. The formular for this type of question
is
Subject/Wh + finite verb
However, do can be used after a subject question word for emphasis, to insist on an
answer.
5. Well tell us - what did happen when your father found you?
6. So who did marry the Princess at the end?
When who, what and which serve as the subjects of the wh-questions, They can be
considered either singular or plural form. The following pairs of examples illustrate this:
7a. Who is in favour of the proposal?
7b. Who are in favour of the proposal?
8a. Which member of the carbinet leaked the information to the press ?
8b. Which members of the carbinet leaked the information to the press?
Whether the wh-word is singular or plural depends on the situation and the presupposition of
the speaker.
Let's consider the first pair 7a and 7b. This pair of examples is given by a chairman as
part of a voting procedure.

6


18
It seems that in voting procedure, it involves two pluralities: those who are in favor and
those who are against. Only one person holding a position that is in favour or against is
possible. This suggests that if the number of people who voted in a certain way is not known,
the question as to their identity should be phrased in plural form. If it is (supposed to be)
known that only one such person is involved, the singular form is appropriate.
On the other hand, in pair 8a and 8b, leaking a certain piece of information typically
seems to be an individual activity, though certainly several people could be involved in it as
well. Therefore, it is normal to use the singular form.
These considerations seem to conclude that there is no clear grammatical distinction between
singular and plural forms of wh-words.

2.1.2. Non-subject wh-questions
When wh-elements are not the subjects of the questions, questions are made by
changing the order of the auxiliary verb and the subject. If there is no helping verb for
example in the simple present and simple past tense, do is introduced as the operator in the
question. However, lexical Be and Have in British English can also serve as an operator.
1. Who did you meet at the reunion party yesterday?
2. When did your father give up smoking?
3. How long have you been waiting for me?
Let's consider the example number 1. In this question, the presupposition
of this question is that " You met someone at the reunion party yesterday". The
subject of the sentence is You. The predicate is met someone at the reunion
party yesterday. The total sentence that lies behind the question: You met
someone at the reunion party yesterday The unknown information is the direct
object of the verb met. From question 1, we can withdraw the following rule:
First of all, replace someone by who: You met who at the reunion party

yesterday? Then invert who to the front of the question: Who you met at the
reunion party? Finally, add the operator (did) in front of the subject and turn