1. Look at this extract from The Cook (Chapter 4). The ‘When‘ question’s main verb is in the simple present tense. The auxillary or helping verb is ‘do‘. It isn’t ‘does‘ because it must agree with ‘you‘ – and it isn’t ‘did‘ because the question isn’t about the past.
The headmistress stood up and offered her hand. ‘Congratulations, Ms Pickles. You are our new school cook. When do you want to start?’
2. If the subject of a simple present tense question is he/she/it, the auxillary verb changes to ‘does‘. NOTE: the main verb remains unchanged (in other words, we DON’T add ‘s‘ to it). For example, ‘Where does he work?‘. In this question, the subject is ‘he‘, the main verb is ‘work‘ and the auxillary verb is ‘does‘.
3. Complete these questions
a. “Where ______ you ______ to ______?” “Let’s go to McDonalds!”
b. ‘When ______ he ______ work?” “He started at 8, so he’ll finish at 4”
c. “Where ______ Robert and Eva ______?” “In Abu Dhabi. They moved there last year.”
d. “When ______ Tommy ______ school?” “Next year, when he is five years old”
e. “Why ______ she ______ living there?” “She says she likes British food!”
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