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I frequently come across questions that don't actually read like questions, for example, "How to ask a question?" which to me, reads more like a direction than an actual question. I mostly see it when the writer is either from Europe or Asia.

It's something I see often enough that I'm wonder if it is correct in certain contexts. If not, I would appreciate alternative phrasings. My first thought in this example would be something like, "How do you ask a question?" or "How should you ask a question?" But in certain contexts, the use of the second person is inappropriate and I have no idea what to do there.

Any help or insight will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Bob
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  • I'm not entirely sure what your question here is. Do you want the correct wording for this specific example or something more general? – KillingTime Feb 14 '20 at 06:03
  • I share your experience. The people who use such phrasing are usually speakers of languages that do not have the same structure as English - they are thinking in their own language and translating directly. – Greybeard Feb 14 '20 at 10:25
  • It's perfectly fine as a heading. It can also be perfectly fine as not a heading. Whether your suggested alternatives will work depends on the context. You are introducing a "you" into a sentence that goes to great lengths to specifically not have a "you". That's sort of the whole point. – RegDwigнt Feb 14 '20 at 10:44

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English is a rigid language. There are only 7 sentence structures. Only 2 do not have a subject: (1) the Imperative, (2) the Exclamatory. Neither an Imperative or Exclamatory is a question (interrogative).

How to ask a question?

That sentence only has one noun, "question", and this is the direct object of the "to ask" infinitive. A subject must be a noun. So, there is no subject. Therefore, that sentence must be an Imperative of Exclamatory. That sentence is an Imperative.

That is to say, an interrogative (a question) must have a subject. That sentence does not have a subject. Therefore, it is not an interrogative (a question).

To create an interrogative (a question), you must add a subject (an addition noun). Every question must have a subject. You can do this:

How should you ask a question?

Now, the subject is "you".

user312440
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    Every question must have a subject? Why? Since when? In English? Really? – RegDwigнt Feb 14 '20 at 10:51
  • I don't know. Back in the day, before everyone got on the internet by using browsers, I took a class called "English Grammar", and it said English grammar is very rigid. The initial premise being, every sentence must have a verb. Then, the only types of sentences were declarative, imperative, exclamatory, and interrogative. Within the declarative, the only structures were.... but I think Internet culture has made English much more "free format". I've also studied Japanese. And that is total free format grammar. – user312440 Feb 16 '20 at 05:11