Chapter 1 is an introduction,
Chapter 2 tells some theoretical status for the thesis,including the introduction to category theory
X—bar theory,checking theory,head movement and operator movement.all of which will be used
as“tools”to compare the English interrogative sentences and French interrogative sentence,
From Chapter 3 to Chapter 6,the four types of interrogative sentences in English and French,
namely,general questions,special questions,alternative questions and tag questions,as well as
some other cases,will be compared.
Chapter 3 deals with the general questions in English and French,first,dealing with their
formation and then comparing general questions with“do”operator,with non—operators and with
“be'’operator.
Chapter 4 considers in both languages the special questions with a single wh—word,with
wh-phrase.with wh—operator as object,with wh—operator as subject respectively.
Chapter 5 discusses alternative questions in English and French,and Chapter 6 compares“tag’’
questions in both languages.
Chapter 7 draws a conclusion.
The fundamental assumption of this paper is tO see whether the derivation of English and French
questions is in accordance with the operation principles of UG(Universal Grammar).By making
use of controlled group comparison,that is,by putting different interrogative sentences into
different groups