Question Formation for Standups & Clarifying Questions
5 exercises — form clear wh-questions, polite indirect questions, subject questions, and tag questions for standups, code reviews, and clarifications.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
In a standup you want to ask a colleague about progress in the present simple. Which question is correctly formed?
Subject–auxiliary inversion in wh-questions: Questions in the present continuous invert the subject and the auxiliary be: What are you working on today? Option A keeps statement word order (you are) without inversion. Option C wrongly mixes the auxiliary do with the -ing form. Option D fronts the preposition awkwardly and omits the auxiliary. In standups, well-formed wh-questions keep updates flowing clearly.
2 / 5
You want to politely check whether a deployment finished. Which indirect question is correct?
Indirect questions use statement word order: After an introductory phrase such as Could you tell me, the embedded question reverts to statement order with no inversion: whether the deployment has finished. Option A keeps the inverted has the deployment, which is only correct in a direct question. Option C wrongly inverts after whether. Option D misplaces whether. Indirect questions sound more polite and are common when clarifying in meetings.
3 / 5
You want to ask who is responsible for a service, where the question word is the subject. Which form is correct?
Subject questions take no auxiliary "do": When the wh-word is the subject of the question (who performs the owning), there is no inversion and no auxiliary do: Who owns the payment service? Option A and C wrongly insert do/does, which is only used in object questions (Who do you support?). Option D uses the object form whom, but here the question word is the subject, so who is required.
4 / 5
A reviewer asks about a past blocker in the past simple. Which question is correctly formed?
Past simple questions: did + base form: Past simple questions use the auxiliary did followed by the base form of the main verb: Why did the build fail? Option A omits the auxiliary entirely. Option C wrongly keeps the past form failed after did — the tense is already carried by did, so the main verb stays in its base form. Option D places did after the subject, breaking the inversion.
5 / 5
You want to add a tag question to confirm a shared assumption in a standup. Which is correct? "The migration is scheduled for tonight, _____"
Tag questions mirror the auxiliary and invert polarity: A tag question repeats the auxiliary of the main clause and flips its polarity. The statement is positive and uses is, so the tag is the negative isn't it? Option B wrongly uses does instead of be. Option C keeps the same (positive) polarity, which expresses genuine doubt rather than seeking confirmation. Option D uses the wrong pronoun (they for a singular migration). Tag questions are a polite way to confirm shared understanding in standups.