Subject/object questions
A Who and what
Who is interviewing Kitty? Who is Kitty interviewing?
Who and what can be the subject of a question. Who and what can also be the object.
The word order is the same as in a statement. An auxiliary (e.g. did, will) comes before the subject.
SUBJECT
Who rang you? (Someone rang you.)
Who is helping you? (Someone is helping you.)
What will happen next? (Something will happen next.)
OBJECT
Who did you ring? (You rang someone.)
Who are you helping? (You are helping someone.)
What will they do next? (They will do something next.)
Who and what can also be the object of a preposition, e.g. to, with. Compare these sentences.
SUBJECT
Who was talking to you? (Someone was talking to you.)
What wine goes with fish? (Some wine goes with fish.)
OBJECT
Who were you talking to? (You were talking to someone.)
What does this colour go with? (This colour goes with something.)
B Which, whose, how many and how much
These words can also be either the subject or the object.
SUBJECT
Which program will work best? (One of the programs will work best.)
Whose dog is barking over there? (Someone's dog is barking over there.)
How many people came past? (Some people came past.)
How much oil got into the river? (Some oil got into the river.)
OBJECT
Which program will you use? (You will use one of the programs.)
Whose dog is Melanie walking? (Melanie is walking someone's dog.)
How many people did you see? (You saw some people.)
How much oil did you buy? (You bought some oil.)