A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information may be provided with an answer.
Questions are normally put forward or asked using interrogative sentences. However they can also be formed by imperative sentences, which normally express commands: "Tell me what two plus two is"; conversely, some expressions, such as "Would you pass the salt?", have the grammatical form of questions but actually function as requests for action, not for answers, making them allofunctional. (A phrase such as this could, theoretically, also be viewed not merely as a request but as an observation of the other person's desire to comply with the request given.)
Read more about Question: Varieties of Questions, Grammar, Questions and Answers, Learning, Philosophical Questions, Origins of Questioning Behavior
Famous quotes containing the word question:
“Virtue in women is perhaps a question of temperament.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“The question for the country now is how to secure a more equal distribution of property among the people. There can be no republican institutions with vast masses of property permanently in a few hands, and large masses of voters without property.... Let no man get by inheritance, or by will, more than will produce at four per cent interest an income ... of fifteen thousand dollars] per year, or an estate of five hundred thousand dollars.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I respect guilt. It is a dangerous but sometimes useful beast. The guilt that made me want to solve all my children’s problems meant trouble. The guilt that made me question my role in our mother-daughter squabbles proved helpful. Yes, I care about my kids’ problems, and I long to make suggestions. But these days I wait for children to ask for help, and I give it sparingly. Some things can’t be fixed, and I tell them so.”
—Susan Ferraro (20th century)