Basic English: 4 types of HOW questions

How should I start this lesson?

I have no idea.

Okay, so I guess I'll just start.

Right?

If you don't know how, then just...

Just do it.

Just do it.

Okay.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "How" questions.

Specifically, we're going to look at four common types of "How" questions.

Now, what I'm going to avoid is I'm not going to talk about every single possible structure

with a "How" question because they follow the exact same structure as all other "Wh"

questions when you're talking about "How" plus a modal verb.

So, for example: "How can you know that?", "How would", "How will", "How could", "How

might", and they also follow every rule that you know for question forms with the present,

past, and future tenses.

All 12 of the tenses.

So, for that information you can check out, you know, other parts of engVid.

I'm not going to cover stuff that you can do with every single "Wh" question out there.

I'm just going to cover the types of questions that are specific to "How".

Okay?

So, number one, you can do "How" plus an adjective.

The most common question...

One of the first questions you probably learn when studying any language, is: "How old are

you?"

So: "How old", "How hot", "How serious", "How difficult".

So, why don't you repeat some of these questions for me, guys?

"How old are you?"

"How hot is it?"

"How serious is he?"

"How difficult was it?"

Okay, so you have "How" plus adjective.

And, again, at home just get out a list of adjectives and say: "What kind of questions

can I make with this?

How cold, how serious, how funny, how", you know, just think of any adjective you can,

see if you can make a question with it.

Practice it.

Next: "How" plus an adverb.

So, for example: "How often", "How well", "How quickly", "How quietly".

Okay?

So, adverbs tell us usually how something is done, the manner in which it is done, or

how frequently something is done.

So, repeat these questions after me: "How often does he bathe?"

That's a gross question, but it's okay.

Next: "How well do you know him?", "How quickly can you finish this?"

A very common question at work, if you work in an office.

And finally: "How quietly can you speak?"

It's a strange question.

Sorry, guys, I couldn't think of anything in the moment that really makes like a lot

of sense for that one.

So: "How", now, these two you might be familiar with: "How many", "How much".

If you don't know: "How many" can only be used with plural count nouns, so things you

can count in the plural form.

For example: "How many people", "How many websites", "How many books".

Okay?

Anything you can count-all right?-like chairs, tables, countries, whatever it is.

So, repeat these questions after me: "How many people are there?", "How many websites

do you visit every day?", "How many books do you read in a year?"

Okay.

And next: "How much", we use "How much" with things we can't count.

Okay?

So: "How much time", "How much tea", "How much English", "How much love", so these are

noncount nouns.

And if you're saying: "Alex, I can count time."

No, my friend, you can count minutes, you can count seconds, you can count hours, but

you can't count the concept of time itself.

Okay?

So...

And if you're saying: "Tea, but I can count cups", yes you're counting the cups of tea,

but liquid you can't.

So, repeat after me: "How much time do we have?", "How much tea would you like?", "How

much English have you learned today?", "How much love do you need?"

Okay, good.

So, like I mentioned, I'm not going to review every single "How" form for every single tense

and every single modal verb because those question types exist for every question form.

These are specifically question types that are specific to "How".

Okay?

And let me give you just two more that are slight exceptions.

So, I'm going to give you one informal question that you can ask with "How", and the first

one here is: "How goes?" this basically means: "How is it going?" or "How are you doing?"

But if you, you know, are in a rush and you just want to ask someone: "Hey.

How is it going?" you can quickly ask: "Hey.

How goes?"

Okay?

"How's it going?

What's...?

What's happening?"

And then last one is: "How dare you?"

When you feel insulted by somebody and you cannot understand, you cannot comprehend how

they could do that or say that, and you want to tell them that you are insulted by them,

you can say: "How dare you?"

Okay.

So, one more time to repeat, we have: "How" plus an adjective, so: "How old are you?",

"How hot is it?", "How serious is he?", "How difficult was the test?"

"How" plus an adverb.

"How often do you call your mom?", "How well do you know him?", "How quickly can you finish

this?"

"How many" plus a plural count noun.

So: "How many people are here today?", "How many websites do you visit?", "How many books

do you read?"

And finally...

I'm moving all over the place on this board.

"How much" plus a noncount noun one more time, so: "How much time do you have?", "How much

tea do you drink?", "How much English do you study every day?" and: "How much love is there

in the world?"

All right, and finally, just repeat after me: "How goes?", "How dare you?"

Okay, perfect.

So, if you'd like to test your understanding of these "How" question types, as always,

you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

Don't forget to check me out on Facebook, on Twitter, and don't forget to subscribe

to the YouTube channel as well.

Til next time, thanks for clicking, guys.