Question

A question is a spoken or written request for information. It is sometimes differentiated from an interrogative, which is the grammatical structure typically used to ask a question. For example, rhetorical questions have an interrogative form but are not considered true questions because they do not expect an answer. There are several types of questions.

Definitions

Polar questions, like the English example "Is this a polar question?", can be answered with "yes" or "no." Alternative questions, such as "Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?" offer a list of options to pick from. Open questions, like "What kind of question is this?" allow for many possible answers. Questions are a major topic in linguistics and the philosophy of language. In pragmatics, they are seen as illocutionary acts that raise an issue to be resolved in conversation.

In formal semantics, including alternative semantics and inquisitive semantics, questions are treated as the meanings of interrogatives and are often defined as sets of propositions that would answer them. Linguistically, a question can be defined on three levels. Semantically, a question is defined by its ability to create a set of logically possible answers. Pragmatically, a question is a category of speech act that seeks information from the listener.

Syntactically, an interrogative is a type of clause typically linked to questions and defined by grammatical rules (like subject–auxiliary inversion in English) that vary by language. Some authors combine these definitions. While typical questions (like "What is your name?") meet all three, the overlap is not total. For instance, "I would like to know your name." meets the pragmatic definition but not the semantic or syntactic ones.

Uses

Such mismatches between form and function are called indirect speech acts. The main use of questions is to get information from the person addressed by indicating what the speaker wants to know. A slight variation is the display question, where the listener is asked to provide information the speaker already knows. For example, a teacher or game show host might ask "What is the capital of Australia?" to test a student or contestant.

A direction question seeks an instruction rather than factual information. It differs from a typical information question in that the expected response is a directive, not a statement. For example: A: When should I open your gift? B: Open it now. Questions can also form the basis for indirect speech acts.

For instance, the imperative "Pass the salt." can be rephrased more politely as "Would you pass the salt?" This has the form of an interrogative but the force of a directive. The term rhetorical question is often used for questions where the speaker does not expect an answer (perhaps because the answer is obvious or implied), such as "Has he lost his mind?" or "Why have I brought you all here? Let me explain..." or "They're closed? But the website said it was open until 10 o'clock." Loaded questions, a special case of complex questions, like "Have you stopped beating your wife?" can be used as a joke or to embarrass an audience, because any answer implies more information than the person is willing to affirm.

Semantic classification

The main semantic classification of questions is based on the set of logically possible answers they allow. An open question, such as "What is your name?", permits an unlimited number of answers. A closed question allows a finite number of answers. Closed questions can be further divided into yes–no questions (like "Are you hungry?") and alternative questions (like "Do you want jam or marmalade?").

This distinction is often grammaticalized. In English, open and closed interrogatives are different clause types typically associated with open and closed questions. A yes–no question (also called a polar question or general question) asks whether a statement is true. They can, in principle, be answered with "yes" or "no" (or similar words in other languages).

Alternative questions

Examples include "Do you take sugar?", "Should they be believed?", and "Will you come to the party tonight?" An alternative question presents two or more distinct choices as possible answers, assuming only one is true. For example: "Are you supporting England, Ireland or Wales?" The expected answer would be "England," "Ireland," or "Wales." Such a question presupposes the addressee supports one of these teams. The addressee can cancel this presupposition by answering "None of them." In English, alternative questions are not syntactically distinct from yes–no questions. Depending on context, the same question can have either interpretation: "Do these muffins have butter or margarine? [I'm on a low fat diet.]" "Do these muffins have butter or margarine? [I saw that the recipe said you could use either.]" In speech, these are distinguished by intonation: the question is interpreted as an alternative question when uttered with a rising tone on "butter" and a falling tone on "margarine." An open question (also called a variable question or open-ended question) allows for many possible answers.