Asking open questions is something many English learners struggle with during conversations. It’s also something you can learn quickly.
Related post that explains closed and open questions and how to create interesting questions.
In this post, I’ll show you how to change yes/no questions into open questions.
Why Ask Open Questions?
Open questions are better if you want to have more meaningful conversations.
It’s not that we can’t ask yes/no questions, but to go more deeply into a topic and have a more interesting discussion, we need to also incorporate open questions.
Brain science reports that open questions stimulate our brains more than yes/no questions.
While yes/no questions activate decision-making centers, open questions engage brain regions related to curiosity, memory, reward, language, and empathy.
In short, we think much more when we are asked an open questions and this is how we become more critical thinkers.
5 Yes/No Question Examples
1. Do you like [topic].
- Examples
- Do you like social media?
- Do you like listening to music?
- Do you like to travel?
2. Was[topic] [adjective]?
- Example
- Was moving to another country difficult?
- Was the movie good?
- Was your vacation fun?
3. Are you [adjective]?
- Example
- Are you happy?
- Are you tired?
- Are you satisfied with the results?
4. Do you have [noun]?
- Example
- Do you have a lot of stress?
- Do you have a favorite scene?
- Do you have any memorable moments?
5. Can you [verb] [noun] well?
- Example
- Can you play the guitar well?
- Can you speak English well?
- Can you read Korean well?
These yes/no questions show examples of sentence patterns you can use to make other yes/no questions. Again, it’s okay to ask yes/no questions sometimes.
Next let’s look at how to make open questions about the same topics.
How Do you Create Open Questions?
In many cases, all you need to do is add a question word to the beginning (What, How, Why) and “about” between the verb and topic when there is no adjective.
When there is an adjective, you move it between the auxiliary verb and “about.”
Each yes/no question has a little bit different style, but you should be able to recognize the original questions inside the open questions.
Look at the open questions below to see the patterns. These patterns can be repeated and used in new questions.
Open Question Examples
- Do you like [topic].
- What do you like about social media?
- What do you like about listening to music?
- What do you like about traveling? or Where do you like to travel?
- Was[topic] [adjective]?
- What was difficult about moving to another country?
- What did you like about the movie? or How was the movie?
- What did you enjoy most about your vacation? or How was your vacation?
- Are you [adjective]?
- What are you happy about?
- Why are you tired?
- How do you feel about the results?
- Do you have [noun]?
- What do you have a lot of stress about? or What‘s stressful? or What causes you stress?
- What‘s your favorite scene?
- What‘s your most memorable moment?
- Can you [verb] [noun]?
- How well can you play the guitar?
- How well can you speak English?
- How well can you read Korean?
I’ve tried to make these questions as easy and similar to the original yes/no questions as possible, so they are not the best open questions. Additionally, they are based on actual questions I’ve heard learners ask.
Here are some better and more open questions about these topics.
Better Open Questions
- Why do you think social media has become so popular?
- Where does our taste in music come from?
- Why do people love to travel?
- What challenges did you face when you moved to another country?
- What role do movies play in our lives?
- Why is it important to take vacations?
- What does happiness mean to you?
- Why do so many people suffer from lack of sleep, and what can we do about it?
- What are the best ways to get the results we want?
- How do you usually deal with stress?
- What makes a movie a box office hit?
- Why are some moments more memorable than others?
- What do you enjoy about learning to play an instrument?
- Why is learning English mandatory in many educational settings?
- What motivates people to learn more than one language?
I hope this helps you see some differences between yes/no (closed) questions and open questions and helps you understand how to create open questions. Special thanks to my students for inspiring this post. ♡
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. ♡
The best way to ask is to comment on any of my YouTube videos.
