How to ask a good question

Working as a journalist for a few years and talking to various politicians and other figures taught me that asking a good question (especially in front of others) is a skill worth learning. There is no time for bad questions and if you ask one, you won't get an answer.

How not to structure a question to someone:
["Um I was thinking that..."], ["useless blah blah blah blah"], [second half of the question], [first half of the question], [other random information].

This makes the person who you are asking the question get confused. Then they can't give you a proper answer even if they want to.

This is how I feel when people ask terrible
and inane questions. Photo by Lorenzo Gonzalez.

Example:
"You know I was thinking that, in my country we have a water pump that can turn milk into tea and it is really loud and expensive to run. People in America like to drive big cars, do you think that? Sometimes I like to eat flowers."

You might think that this particular example sounds stupid and ridiculous, but its more or less how many people like to talk when asking a question.

How to ask a question:
[Relevant information that provides a basis for your question - very important for questions that can be easily interpreted to suit the needs of the person answering],[question, in plain speech...use active voice][finish with actual question].


Read it again if its hard for you to understand — you actually need to ask the person a question. Yes, it would require a question mark (?) if you wrote it down. It should be structured the same way that you would write it. It should make sense.

Example:
"There has been research into wind turbines that show they produce subsonic waves that can unsettle the human body. How relevant do you think this is to town planners in Sweden?"

Another thing: don't ask multiple questions in one sentence...it is just confusing and it gives the person the chance to ignore the parts of the question they find uncomfortable or don't understand.

In short, people around you hate you if you ask shit questions. Don't do it.