Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
Hello again. In the last lesson, you retold a freelancer’s development story and distinguished Who reviewed the draft? from Who did the freelancer ask? Today, you will use that distinction to write questions for a client. The goal is not simply to make grammatical sentences: each question should uncover something useful about the client’s work or learning goals.
Objective: Write and self-edit a set of direct questions that clarify a client’s work and learning goals, using subject and object question forms accurately.
Estimated time: 60 minutes, including your daily 10-minute SRS review.
Success criteria: You produce 8–10 relevant questions, including at least three subject questions and three object questions. Your final version uses accurate word order and is easy for a client to answer.
Start with 10 minutes of SRS review. Say each answer before checking the card, and note any question form you still hesitate over.
1. Check the pattern you will use — 6 minutes
The distinction from the last lesson becomes especially useful when you are preparing for a client conversation. Who approves the drafts? identifies the decision-maker. Who do the writers ask for feedback? identifies the person the writers contact. Both begin with who, but they investigate different roles.
Questions: wh- questions - Cambridge Grammar
Read Cambridge Grammar’s guide to check question order and one useful feature of natural client questions: a preposition can come at the end.
In “Forming wh-questions,” read the auxiliary pattern under “With an auxiliary verb.” Then, under “Without an auxiliary verb,” read the subject contrast, including the comparison of “Who owns this bag?” and “Who do you love most?” Finally, in “Prepositions and particles with wh-questions,” read the preposition examples. Notice why “Who do you send the draft to?” is a natural direct question.
For ordinary present-simple and past-simple questions, use this editing test: if who or what does the action, put it in the subject’s place without adding do, does, or did: Who approves the drafts? If someone else does the action, keep that person as the subject and use question order: What does the reviewer approve? After does or did, use the base verb: What did the team change?, not changed.
This is not a rule to remove every auxiliary. A question about an action in progress still needs is: Who is reviewing the drafts today?
2. Read the client’s note — 8 minutes
Here is an original message from a potential client. Read it as a brief, not as a text to memorise. Your job is to find information that is missing but worth asking about.
Client’s initial note
Our small team writes articles for a service website. We want to make the articles clearer and improve the way we respond to enquiries. A reviewer approves each draft, but approvals sometimes take too long. Last month, the team changed part of the review process, and work became faster.Someone on the team has proposed training on asking better questions and writing stronger article openings. Our writers already ask for feedback, but I would like them to use it more effectively. I can choose which staff members attend the training. We also have recent articles that could serve as samples. I want a practical plan, but I have not decided how we should measure progress.
A good question gives you information you could act on. These five models show the range of questions the note invites:
- Who approves each draft? The unknown reviewer is the subject.
- What causes the longest delays? The unknown cause is the subject.
- Who do the writers ask for feedback? The writers are the subject; the unknown person is the object.
- What did the team change last month? The team is the subject; the unknown change is the object.
- Who is proposing the training? The unknown person is the subject; is remains because the question uses the present continuous.
Notice the difference between asking what the client wants and asking what will help you plan. A question about training samples, for example, could help you choose suitable activities; a question about progress could help you agree on a useful result.
3. Draft the questions — 12 minutes
Write a short opening line to the client, followed by 8–10 direct questions. Keep them concise. Aim to cover four areas: the current article process, delays and feedback, the team’s learning needs, and evidence of improvement.
Include at least three subject questions and three object questions. Use both present and past forms where the note calls for them. You may use the five models above as a starting point, but do not make your whole list a copy of them: add questions that clarify, for example, which skill needs attention first, which articles could be used as samples, or what the team currently measures.
Write for a real first conversation. Avoid asking for something the note already answers, such as whether the team writes articles.
4. Edit for role, form, and usefulness — 17 minutes
First, label each who, what, or which question S if its answer performs the action, or O if someone else performs the action on its answer. Then inspect the verb.
| If the answer is… | Check your question against… |
|---|---|
| The subject in a simple tense | Who approves the draft? / What caused the delay? |
| The object in a simple tense | Who do you ask? / What did you change? |
| The subject of an action in progress | Who is reviewing the draft? |
Watch for three common slips:
- Who does approve the articles? → Who approves the articles? An ordinary subject question does not need an added does.
- Who the writers ask for feedback? → Who do the writers ask for feedback? An object question needs question order.
- What did the team changed? → What did the team change? Use the base verb after did.
Next, edit as a client would read. Does each question ask for one clear piece of information? Is its answer likely to help you shape the work or training plan? A natural question can end with a necessary preposition: Who do the writers send their drafts to? Do not delete to while shortening the sentence.
Finally, rewrite your complete list in its best order. Put questions about the current process first, then questions about learning priorities and results. Use this brief rubric, scoring each area 0, 1, or 2:
| Area | A score of 2 means… |
|---|---|
| Fluency | The questions read smoothly as a connected client conversation. |
| Accuracy | Subject and object questions have the correct verbs and word order. |
| Range | The list covers work processes, learning needs, and ways to check progress. |
| Clarity | Each question has an identifiable purpose and invites a useful answer. |
For feedback, paste your revised questions, your four rubric scores, and two before-and-after edits. Remove any private client details. If you corrected a repeated error, add it to your personal error checklist as: My original question / Corrected question / Rule to check next time.
5. Keep the questions ready for use — 7 minutes
The key editing decision is which role your question word fills. If it stands for the person or thing doing the action, an ordinary simple-tense subject question does not add do, does, or did. If it stands for the person or thing affected by the action, keep the known subject and use the required question order. Just as importantly, check that the answer would help you understand the client’s goal.
In the next lesson, you will write a longer study-and-development plan. You will choose among will, be going to, and the present continuous to express different kinds of future plans.
Add to SRS: Use the CSV below as an Anki file with fields front, back, tag. For the two dictation cards, first record yourself reading each back question; during review, listen without looking. Replace the final placeholder with an error you actually corrected today, or omit that card. Review new cards after 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days, with a 10-minute block daily for cards due.
front,back,tag
"Complete: The reviewer ___ each draft before publication.","The reviewer approves each draft before publication.","work-learning-collocation"
"Complete: Our writers ___ feedback on their article openings.","Our writers ask for feedback on their article openings.","work-learning-collocation"
"Complete: We need to ___ progress after the training.","We need to measure progress after the training.","work-learning-collocation"
"Complete: The team ___ the review process last month.","The team changed the review process last month.","work-learning-collocation"
"A reviewer approves the draft. Ask about the reviewer: Who ___ the draft?","Who approves the draft?","work-learning-subject-question"
"A change reduced delays. Ask about the cause: What ___ delays?","What reduced delays?","work-learning-subject-question"
"The writers ask a reviewer for feedback. Ask about the reviewer: Who ___ the writers ___ for feedback?","Who do the writers ask for feedback?","work-learning-object-question"
"The team changed the review process. Ask about the change: What ___ the team ___ last month?","What did the team change last month?","work-learning-object-question"
"A reviewer is checking the draft. Ask about the reviewer: Who ___ checking the draft?","Who is checking the draft?","work-learning-subject-question"
"Dictation: play your recording of question A.","What slows down approvals on busy days?","work-learning-dictation"
"Dictation: play your recording of question B.","Who do the writers send their drafts to?","work-learning-dictation"
"My original question: [replace with one from today]","My corrected question: [write it here, plus the rule I need to check]","my-error"