Subject Questions

• Usually, we use auxiliary verbs like 'did' or 'does' to make questions in English. However, when we ask about the subject (the person or thing that did the action), we do not use 'did' or 'does'. We use the normal positive word order.
• Question Word (Subject)
• Verb (Past or Present)
• Object / Extra Information
• Meaning
• Who
• broke
• the build?
• Who is the person that broke the build?
• What
• happened
• yesterday?
• What was the event yesterday?
• Who
• wrote
• this commit message?
• Who is the author of this message?
• What
• caused
• the error?
• What thing made the error happen?
• Remember
• Use subject questions when you do not know the subject (the person or thing that does the action).
• Do not use do, does, or did in subject questions.
• The verb after 'Who' or 'What' is in the normal positive form (for example: broke, happened, works).
• Subject questions usually take a singular verb.
• Examples
• Who pushed the code to the main branch?
• What caused the pipeline to turn red?
• Who approved your pull request yesterday?
• Common mistakes
• Who did break the build?
• Who broke the build?
• What did happen in the meeting?
• What happened in the meeting?

Complete the sentences

• Who (break) ____ the main branch build this morning?
• What (happen) ____ during the daily standup?
• Who (write) ____ this terrible commit message?
• What (cause) ____ the unit tests to fail?
• Who (revert) ____ my changes yesterday?
• Who (approve) ____ your pull request?

Sources: photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels