Echo Questions

How do you use echo questions? Echo questions are very useful and can make you sound like a native speaker. Let's talk about some examples of echo questions and how to make them.
Basic Echo Questions

We can use echo questions to check something that has just been said. To do this we repeat the same question back to the speaker. For example,
A: I'm quitting my job.
B: You're quitting your job? (surprised)
A: The Queen killed the King.
B: The Queen killed the King?
Echo Questions for Repeating Parts of a Sentence

You can also use an echo question if you missed a part of a sentence. This is useful when the speaker is talking to fast or there is too much loud noise in the room. For example,
A: I went to P--- last weekend.
B: You went where?
A: Paris.
A: I met Bill Gates
B: You met who?
A: Bill Gates

You can also use this if you can't believe the information or are surprised.
A: I ate 30 chicken wings.
B: You ate how many chicken wings?
A: 30.
If you want to ask about the action that the speaker did. You must use 'do what'. For example,
A: He painted a picture with a cheeseburgers.
B: He did what with cheeseburgers?
A: Painted a picture.
Be careful to use the correct question word (what, who, when, how, where, how many, etc..). Try to think of how to ask about the information regularly. Take the question word in a regular question and move it to where the missing information is in the original sentence. For example,
A: We are meeting at 6:XX.
B: When are we meeting? (regular question)
B: We are meeting at when? (echo question)
A: at 6:30.
Using Echo Questions to Question a Question

You can also use echo questions to question a question. If you feel like somebody shouldn't be asking a question to you or you are angry they asked a question, you can use this. For example,
A: Why did you take my shirt?
B: Why did I take your shirt? It's not your shirt. It's my shirt.
We usually use these types of echo questions when we are a little angry at the other speaker.

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short quiz.
1) A: The Empire State Building is #### feet tall.
B: _________________
A) The Empire State Building is how long?
B) The Empire State Building is how high?
C) The Empire State Building is how tall?

2) A: Where are you going?
B: ______________ I'm going home. It's 5:00, the day is over.
A) I'm going where?
B) Where I am going?
C) Where am I going?

3) A: Your house is on fire!
B: _________________
A) My house is on fire?
B) Your house is on fire?
C) Our house is on fire?

Answers
1) – C) – Speaker B didn't hear the height of the Empire State Building. To ask about the height of a building, we use 'how tall'.
2) – C) – Speaker B is questioning a question because they can't believe speaker A doesn't know it is time to go home.
3) – A) – Speaker B can't believe what Speaker A said, so he repeats it back as a question.



Mr.Maru: We're going to New York City Sparky!
Sparky: We're going to what?
Mr.Maru: New York City. It's going to be great!
Sparky: I don't like big cities.
Mr.Maru: But, we are going to see the Empire State Building. It was built in 411 days!
Sparky: It was built in how long?
Mr.Maru: 411 days! That was really fast.
Sparky: I just hope they have bacon there.
(note: Sparky is using wrong English.)


http://www.englishspark.com/en/blogs/stumpers/478-echo-questions