This book, too, takes as its basic subject matter the morphology and syntax of English. However, whereas traditional structural accounts have often stopped at the level of the sentence, wherever possible we also include an analysis of how the morphology and syntax are deployed to effect certain discourse purposes at the suprasentential level. This level is particularly important in communication and is often overlooked. | The Grammar Book Similarly we could ask a question about direction using where but we could also ask a more precise question using which way. Where did they go Which way did they go The same is true at the clausal level. We can ask a very general wA-question about an event What happened Or we can ask more specific questions about the event What did the thieves do Or even just about the action that is the verb What did the thieves do to the bank teller Uninverted Wh-Questions As with yes no questions it is also possible to have uninverted wA-questions. For such Tz A-questions both wA-fronting and subject-operator inversion would be suppressed. Sometimes these are just echo questions in which the listener is signaling to the speaker that he or she didn t hear a part of what just was said A I expect to be going to Hawaii for the holidays. B You expect to be going where for the holidays A To Hawaii. Or just the wA-question word can be used as a repair to signal that something was not heard Weber 1989 A I expect to be going to Hawaii for the holidays. B Where A To Hawaii. However if B s reply had been said with pitch above the normal range especially on where then A would have interpreted B s uninverted question as expressing surprise or disbelief A I am going to Hawaii for the holidays. B You re going where for the holidays A I know. Lucky me It is even possible to mark more than one constituent Q -wh . Who said what to whom in uninverted wA-questions. Emphatic Questions with Ever English speakers use werwith wA-questions to make them emphatic. Such questions express a variety of emotions Dismay Wherever did you get that idea Admiration However did you manage it Perplexity Whatever does she see in him Chapter 13 Wh-Questions 251 Where didn t you go You seemed to go everywhere. What didn t happen Everything seemed to happen. We use ever after all ze i-question words except which and whose and we often put heavy stress on it in spoken questions Wherever did you
