Grammar and word order are important when writing questions.
When speaking questions, intonation is also important.
Intonation is the rise and fall in the pitch of the voice.
Pitch can be high like this, or low like this.
You can think of it like the melody of speech.
Questions, Statements, and Lists for example.
All have their own standard speech melody, or intonation pattern.
The melody also helps indicate whether someone is finished speaking,
or how they are feeling.
Let's review some general guidelines for English intonation.
Statements generally have a falling intonation.
Falling intonation sounds finished.
For example, glad to meet you,
I would like to ask some questions, thank you for your time.
Make sure your intonation falls low enough at the end of sentences,
otherwise, your speech will sound unfinished or unsure.
Rising pitch at the end of sentences sounds unfinished or
unsure. For example, glad to meet you?
Sounds like I am not sure I am glad to meet you, or
I would like to ask you some questions?
Sounds like I am not sure I want to ask you questions.
See if you can hear the difference between these two.
Thank you for your time. And, thank you for your time?
Hopefully, you can hear that the first "Thank you for your time"
has a falling intonation, and therefore, sounds finished.
Information questions starting with who, what, where,
when, why, and how, also have a falling pitch.
For example, who do you make food for in your family?
How would you use cricket flour?
On the other hand, Yes/No Questions have a rising intonation.
Do you eat bugs?
Did you like them?
Have they tried cricket flour?
Is he cooking with cricket flour?
Would you taste cricket flour?
Be sure to use the appropriate question form and
intonation when conducting your market research.
A Yes/No Question is a question that can be answered by yes or no
and is formed by a helping verb plus subject plus main verb.
An information question is a question that asks for
information by using a question word.
Where, when, what, why, who and
how is formed by a question word plus a Helping Verb plus subject plus main verb.
Statements and information questions use falling intonation.
Yes/No questions use rising intonation.