Editing English grammar (section)

===Questions===
Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed [[question]]s to be formed by [[inversion (grammar)|inverting]] the positions of the verb and [[subject (grammar)|subject]]. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("[[special verb]]s"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] ''be'' (see [[subject–auxiliary inversion]]). To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb ''do'' (''does'', ''did'') needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question (see [[do-support|''do''-support]]). For example:
* She can dance. → Can she dance? (inversion of subject ''she'' and auxiliary ''can'')
* I am sitting here. → Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject ''I'' and copula ''am'')
* The milk goes in the fridge. → Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; ''do''-support required)

The above concerns [[yes–no question]]s, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with [[interrogative word]]s such as ''where'', ''what'', ''how'', etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:
* I go. → Where do I go? (''wh''-question formed using inversion, with ''do''-support required in this case)
* He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word ''who'' is the subject)

Inversion does not apply in [[indirect question]]s: ''I wonder where he is'' (not *''... where is he''). Indirect yes–no questions can be expressed using ''if'' or ''whether'' as the interrogative word: ''Ask them whether/if they saw him''.

[[Negative (grammar)|Negative]] questions are formed similarly; however, if the verb undergoing inversion has a [[English contractions|contraction]] with ''not'', then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:
* John is going. (affirmative)
* John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction)
* Isn't John going? / Is John not going? (negative question, with and without contraction respectively)

See also {{slink|English auxiliaries and contractions|Contractions and inversion}}.