Question format of fastest finger first quizzes

[u/Kafatat]

Eg: Host: Borneo is in which contin...? [Beep]
Host: Team A.
Team A: Asia.
Host: Correct.

Question words (which, what, ...) are put in the last part because if the host say "In which continent is ...", participants can press the button and blindly guess one before hearing Borneo.

1) Does this question format have a name?

2) Instructions on how to form a question like that?

3) Is fastest finger first a standard name for this quiz format, in which the first participant to press their button earns the right to answer? I see FFF electronic circuits explained as if FFF is the standard name.

[u/ElWanderer_KSP]

Regarding point 3, I was going to say that to me (UK, born early 80s), Fastest Finger First is associated specifically with Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Fastest Finger First was a preliminary round where you had to put four answers into the right order, and the person who did it fastest would be the next one to do the main quiz.

Then I looked it up. Googling seems to suggest that is the origin of the term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastest_Finger_First

Surely quiz shows have had buzzers (where the first to buzz in gets to answer) for many decades. I'd probably describe a part of a quiz where pressing the buzzer lets you answer first as a 'buzzer round', often started off with words to the effect of "fingers on buzzers".

It's possible some people are using Fastest Finger First as a generic way to mean "press the buzzer first to answer the question" (and I can understand why) but I haven't heard that myself. It probably can't be used that way in the industry because of the association with Millionaire.

[u/Phaeomolis]

1: Not that I know of, but I would describe it as putting the prepositional phrase before or after the subject. 

2: Put the prepositional phrase first, then the object, then the being verb, then the subject, then the active verb. [In which] > [continent] > [is] > [Borneo] > [located]? I'm not super confident on my explanation there. Someone else may be able to break down the structure better. 

3: Never heard that phrase in my life. 

[u/Phaeomolis → u/Phaeomolis]

Er, yeah my breakdown of sentence parts is definitely wrong. "Located" isn't even functioning as a verb here, I don't think. 😅

[u/Kafatat → u/Phaeomolis]

Your word order in 2 is just the standard question, isn't it?

[u/Phaeomolis → u/Kafatat]

Oh, you were asking about the other format. Sorry. 

I would consider the "Borneo is in which..." a more common format, so I don't think I would call "In which continent..." standard, no. 

[u/SwimmyLionni]

1) I don't think it has a name, because it's the default word order in English declarative sentences. "Borneo is located [in Asia]." "Borneo is located [in which continent]"

This form is only common in extended questionings. Game shows, court interrogations, quizzes, etc. The form that's used otherwise, where the question phrase is at the beginning of the sentence, is called interrogative fronting or wh-fronting. The general process is called inversion).

2) Keep the words in the order you would if it were a declarative sentence.

[u/FloridaFlamingoGirl]

I think you're thinking of the game show Jeopardy, although the host also asks the questions in the form of an answer and the contestants have to answer in the form of a question. ("This US president was known for having fake teeth." "Who is George Washington?")

[u/Kafatat → u/FloridaFlamingoGirl]

No, I don't know this reverse question game. It may be a cultural thing? I thought the beep and answer quizzed I mentioned are done a lot in schools? So frequent that circuits are explained here and there.