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:
“You run ahead?—Do you do it as a shepherd? Or as an exception? A third possibility would be as a runaway ... First question of conscience.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“O.J. Berman: Well, answer the question now. Is she or isn’t she?
Paul: Is she or isn’t she what?
O.J. Berman: A phony.
Paul. I don’t know. I don’t think so.
O.J. Berman: You don’t think so, huh? Well, you’re wrong. She is. But on the other hand, you’re right. Because she’s a real phony.”
—George Axelrod (b. 1922)
“We cannot discuss the state of our minorities until we first have some sense of what we are, who we are, what our goals are, and what we take life to be. The question is not what we can do now for the hypothetical Mexican, the hypothetical Negro. The question is what we really want out of life, for ourselves, what we think is real.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)