Question words — who, what, where, when, why and how — each ask for a different kind of answer. Knowing which to use helps children ask good questions and understand what they read.
What your child will learn
- Know what each question word asks about
- Choose the right question word for a sentence
- End a question with a question mark
- Turn a telling sentence into a question
Each question word has a job
Who asks about a person, where about a place, when about a time, what about a thing, why about a reason and how about the way something happens (or how many).
Questions end with a question mark instead of a full stop. Question Cove checks both the word and the punctuation.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. True or false? Questions end with a question mark.
Show answer
Answer: True. A question mark shows the sentence is asking something.
2. Which word fits? “___ is your name?”
- Where
- Who
- When
- What
Show answer
Answer: What. “What is your name?”
3. What goes at the end of a question?
- A comma (,)
- A capital letter
- A question mark (?)
- A full stop (.)
Show answer
Answer: A question mark (?). Questions end with a question mark.
Tips for grown-ups
- After reading a story, take turns asking who, where and why questions.
- Play “20 questions” to guess an animal or object.
- Encourage “why” questions — and ask them back!