Grammar box – Subject vs Object questions

(Present Simple & Present Continuous)

1. Subject questions – Who / What is doing the action?

• We ask about the person/thing that does the verb
• After who / what we put the verb directly (no do/does, no subject)

Present Simple

• Who plays football on Saturdays?
  → Tom plays football on Saturdays.

Present Continuous

• Who is doing the homework?
  → Mia is doing the homework.

✅ Notice: the answer is just the subject (Tom, Mia).

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2. Object questions – Who / What does the subject act on?

• We ask about the person/thing that receives the action
• We keep the subject in the question
• We use do/does (Present Simple) or am/is/are (Present Continuous)

Present Simple

• What does Tom play on Saturdays?
  → Tom plays football.

Present Continuous

• Who is Mia doing the homework with?
  → Mia is doing the homework with her cousin.

✅ Notice: the answer has the subject + verb, and we are missing only the object in the question.

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Quick trick for students

Look at the answer:

• If the answer is only “Tom / My friends / The dog” → you asked about the subject → subject question
• If the answer is “Tom is reading a book / We are watching TV” → you asked about the missing object (book, TV) → object question

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Activity – Write the question (subject OR object?)

Write a question for each answer. Use the word in brackets.
(Present Simple or Present Continuous.)

1. Answer: Liam is cooking dinner now.
   (Who)
2. Answer: My sister plays the piano every day.
   (What)
3. Answer: They are watching a film.
   (What)
4. Answer: Olivia is talking to Ben.
   (Who … to?)
5. Answer: Tom goes to school by bus.
   (How) → object question with “how”
6. Answer: Ben and Leo are swimming in the river.
   (Who)
7. Answer: I’m doing my homework now.
   (What)
8. Answer: Lucas cleans his bike on Sundays.
   (What)
9. Answer: The tall boy is sitting next to Emma.
   (Who)
10. Answer: We are listening to music.
    (What)

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Answer key

1. Who is cooking dinner now? – subject question
2. What does your sister play every day? – object question
3. What are they watching? – object question
4. Who is Olivia talking to? – object question
5. How does Tom go to school? – object question (Tom = subject)
6. Who is swimming in the river? – subject question
7. What are you doing now? – object question
8. What does Lucas clean on Sundays? – object question
9. Who is sitting next to Emma? – subject question
10. What are you listening to? / What are we listening to? – object question