Subject and object questions, comparatives

Subject and object questions

Chi/cosa fa l'azione – chi/che cosa la riceve?

In the simple present and simple past tense, we make questions and negatives with do, does, and did. But there are some exceptions to this rule.

In subject questions where we want to find information about the subject, we do not use the auxiliary verb do/does/did.

In object questions where we want to find information about the object, we use the auxiliary verb do/does/did.

• John broke a window.

This sentence has a subject (John), a verb (broke), and an object (window). Now when we make questions to find this information, there are two possibilities:

If we want to make a question where the answer is 'window', the question would be: What did John break? -> John broke a window. When we make a question where the answer is the object, we use the auxiliary do/did.

Now if we want to make a question where the answer is 'John', the question would be: Who broke the window? -> John broke the window. In subject questions, the auxiliary do is not used.

Examples

Jack likes ice-cream. (Subject – Jack, verb – likes, object – ice-cream)

Subject question

Who likes ice-cream? Jack likes ice-cream. (NOT Who does like ice-cream?)

Object question

What does Jack like? Jack likes ice-cream. (NOT What Jack likes?)

My sister writes short stories.

Subject question

Who writes short stories? My sister writes short stories.

Object question

What does my sister write? My sister writes short stories.

Mary keeps a pig in the yard.

Subject question

Who keeps a pig in the yard? Mary

Object question

What does Mary keep in the yard? A pig

The subject of a sentence

The subject of a sentence is the person or thing that performs the action: (CHI COMPIE L’AZIONE)

• We want some fruit juice.
• Karen likes Fred.
• Smoking causes cancer.
• Daniel made a sandwich.
• The earthquake damaged my house.
• Jennifer lied to Sam.

The object of a sentence

The object of a sentence is the person or thing that is acted upon, or receives the action: (SUBISCE O RICEVE L’AZIONE)

• We want some fruit juice.
• Karen likes Fred.
• Smoking causes cancer.
• Daniel made a sandwich.
• The earthquake damaged my house.
• Jennifer lied to Sam.

Object questions

For questions in the present simple, the auxiliary verbs are do and does:

• What do you want to drink? We want some fruit juice.
• Who does Karen like? Karen likes Fred.
• What does smoking cause? Smoking causes cancer.

For questions in the past simple, the auxiliary verb is did:

• What did Daniel make? Daniel made a sandwich.
• What did the earthquake damage? The earthquake damaged my house.
• Who did Jennifer lie to? Jennifer