Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <grammar>
Title: Can “How to” be a question?
Question: Can I use “How to” instead of “How do I” when I ask a question? And will it be grammatical?  I often notice some English learners use “How to” when they ask a question.

Answers:
sents: text: The usage of how to to ask a question is a direct translation from the learner's own language: it is not correct as a question in English.
text: The expression is used in titles, for example "How to win friends and influence people" In English, a how-question is formed by taking a normal sentence, making a question in the usual way (by applying subject-auxiliary inversion ) and then adding how in front of it.
text: I get a visa I do get a visa - add do because there is no auxiliary verb
text: Do I get a visa?
text: - invert subject and auxiliary
text: How do I get a visa?
text: - add how
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/30978/JavaLatte
score: 4
sents: text: Are you talking of asking some guy
text: How do I kill an insect ? , versus How to kill an insect ? ?
text: If so, I believe the latter is not grammatically correct.
text: I think How to is used more in titles and such (not in the question form), for example: How to kill all the insects in your house in less than 3 hours .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/63039/doubleOrt
score: 2
sents: text: If you are asking the question directly to a person or group of people then How do I feed a lion?
text: is grammatical.
text: However we can also be making the point that it's a problem to do a task and say Ah, but how to feed the lion?
text: That's the question.
text: Here we are not explicitly asking a specific person for an answer, though in conversation we are open to receiving answers.
text: I suspect that these two cases are sometimes confused by non-native speakers.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/16378/djna
score: 1
sents: text: The phrase "How to play tennis" is noun phrase.
text: It does not contain a finite verb and is not a complete sentence.
text: It is not a question.
text: It means "the method of playing tennis" Noun phrases are useful: They can be used, for example, as headings in a piece of writing.
text: They are building blocks of complete sentences
text: He taught me how to play tennis.
text: This is a complete sentence with a subject, verb and two objects.
text: It is not a question.
text: "How" can also be used in questions, but it needs the inverted verb to be a question.
text: How does he play tennis?
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/24231/James K
score: 1
sents: text: In English, whether something is a question or a statement can depend on its context or delivery.
text: For example: Salesman:
text: Hey, have I got a deal for you!
text: Customer:
text: Really?
text: Salesman: Really!
text: Sentence 1 is worded in the form of a question ("Have I"), but the intent is to make a statement.
text: Sentences 2 and 3 contain the same text, but #2 is a question while #3 is a statement.
text: "How to" can be used in a question, particularly when someone is asking a question of themselves (e.g. "How to win?"), but its natural function is to cue a reader to expect a heading or title (e.g. How to cook a potato ).
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/24861/Lawrence
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
"How to" is used in titles, for example  "How to win friends and influence people".  In English, a how-question is formed by taking a normal sentence, making a question in the usual way (by applying  subject-auxiliary inversion ) and then adding  how  in front of it. For example: How do I feed a lion?
This is a direct translation of an appropriate question in other languages, but is not used in English. "How to___" is used as a title of instructions, but a question would usually start "How do I ____?"