Many times students are asked to write answers to tasks that arenít written as questions. These tasks are written as imperative sentences: sentences that tell you to do something. We can call these types of tasks ìstatement-tasksî. Example:
Q. Name the first President of the United States. It is sometimes helpful to be able to turn these statement-tasks into question-tasks. This makes it easier to understand exactly what kind of answer is needed. Statement-tasks can easily be turned into questions with just a little thinking. The example above can be turned into a Who? question. Example:
Q. Who was the first President of the United States? Changing statement-tasks into questions can be done either on paper or in your mind. The key to doing this to identify what kind of information the task asks for. Follow these guidelines to identify the Key Word for changing the task into a question: 1. If it tells you to provide a name, it is a Who? question. 2. If it tells you to give a specific fact or list of facts, it is a What? question. 3. If it tells you to provide the name of a particular place or location, it is a Where? question. 4. If it tells you to provide a period of time or a date it is a When? question. 5. If it tells you to explain something it is a How? or a Why? question. 6. If you are told to describe something, it could be a combination of question types. 7. If you are told to write out what you think, or what you would do, etc., it is a personal-opinion question. Look at these examples of some typical statement-tasks students might see in daily assignments. Each has been labeled as to what type of question-task it asks the student to do. Example: Q. List all the books of the New Testament. (What?)
Q. Explain the importance of the gospels. (Why?)
Q. Describe the way God appeared to Moses. (How?)
Q. List the names of Noahís sons. (Who?) Here are some good hints from Super Skill about answering statement-tasks:
1. Many times assignment-tasks are written as imperative sentences (statements), instead of questions.
2.Statement-tasks can easily be turned into question-tasks so that they can be more easily understood. |
