Palm Top Grammar
Some of the common sentence structures can be illustrated by using our palms:
1) Information Questions:
a. Action verb as predicate of the sentence
In this picture, as we can see, from left to right, the thumb indicates the position of Question Word; index finger, helping word (auxiliary verb); middle finger, Subject; and ring finger, the main verb, and the pinkie, the remaining part of the sentence.
| Thumb | Index finger | Middle Finger | Ring Finger | Pinkie |
| Where | do | you | live | ? |
| What | does | she | do | ? |
| Where | did | you | live | last year? |
| How | did | you | get | here? |
| When | did | you | have | lunch? |
| What | will | you | do | next week? |
| What | is | Tom | doing | now? |
| What | have | you | done | to her? |
| How | are | you | doing | ? |
| What time | will | you | be | here tomorrow? |
| Where | will | he | be | next Friday? |
| Why | will | he | be | absent next week? |
Therefore, with the help of our palm, we can see that all the sentences above follow a word order as follows:
Question Word + helping word (auxiliary verb) + Subject + Main Verb + Others + ?
b. 'Be' as predicate of the sentence
| Thumb | Index finger | Middle Finger | Ring Finger | Pinkie |
| How | are | you | ? | |
| What time | is | it | ? | |
| How much | are | they | ? | |
| How many people | were | here | yesterday? | |
| Why | was | he | upset yesterday? | |
| Which one | was | broken | ? | |
| Which grade | was | she | in last year? | |
| Who | were | you | worried about then? |
c. 'Will be' or 'have/has been' as Predicate of the sentence
| Thumb | Index finger | Middle Finger | Ring Finger | Pinkie |
| How old | will | she | be | next year? |
| What time | will | you | be | back? |
| How much | will | it | be | in total? |
| Where | will | he | be | next week? |
| Why | have | you | been | so busy these days? |
| How long | have | you | been | here? |
| Where | have | you | been | this week? |
| Who | has | he | been | with recently? |
2) Yes/No Questions
a. Action verb as predicate of the sentence
| Thumb | Index finger | Middle Finger | Ring Finger | Pinkie |
| Do | you | live | here? | |
| Does | he | speak | English? | |
| Do | they | like | American food? | |
| Will | you | go | with me? | |
| Will | they | meet | again? | |
| Did | she | call | you? | |
| Did | it | work | out well? | |
| Did | anything | go | wrong? |
b. 'Be' as predicate of the sentence
| Thumb | Index finger | Middle Finger | Ring Finger | Pinkie |
| Are | you | OK? | ||
| Am | I | right? | ||
| Is | he | busy now? | ||
| Were | you | here last night? | ||
| Was | he | better when you saw him? | ||
| Was | yesterday | Tuesday? | ||
| Were | they | with you yesterday? | ||
| Was | Tom | sick yesterday? |