Let’s analyse questions that have relative clauses to give emphasis. So usually, we would say something like:
What do we want to ask? What are we trying to find out here?
You can see the normal auxiliary verbs ‘be’ and ‘do’ get removed and relative clauses are added in the EXPERT EXAMPLES:
What is it that we want to ask? What is it we‘re trying to find out here?
GSE 71 B2+
ask questions with ‘is it/was it’ and complement clauses.
An iWeb search for:
Wh* _VB it _P _V
1 WHAT IS IT YOU WANT 501 What is it you want?
2 WHAT IS IT YOU ARE 191
3 WHAT IS IT YOU ‘RE 156
4 WHAT IS IT THEY SAY 123
5 WHAT IS IT YOU DO 119
6 WHAT IS IT WE ARE 68
7 WHAT IS IT YOU ASK 68
8 WHAT IS IT YOU LIKE 67
9 WHAT IS IT WE ‘RE 60
10 WHAT IS IT YOU NEED 59
11 WHAT IS IT YOU THINK 55
12 WHAT WAS IT YOU WANTED 55
13 WHAT IS IT YOU HAVE 54
14 WHO WAS IT WHO SAID 52
15 WHAT IS IT THEY ARE 48
16 WHAT WAS IT YOU WERE 47
17 WHAT IS IT YOU WOULD 45
18 WHAT IS IT YOU LOVE 43
19 WHAT IS IT WE WANT 40
20 WHAT IS IT I ‘M 39
21 WHAT IS IT YOU PLAN 36
22 WHAT IS IT I WANT 36
23 WHAT WAS IT YOU SAID 36
24 WHAT IS IT YOU WISH 35
25 WHAT IS IT I AM 35
26 WHAT IS IT THEY WANT 34
27 WHY IS IT WE HAVE 34
28 WHY IS IT I CAN 32
29 WHAT IS IT WE CAN 31
30 WHAT IS IT THEY DO 30
31 WHAT IS IT I DO 19
32 WHY IS IT YOU THINK 19
33 WHAT IS IT YOU SEEK 18
34 WHAT IS IT WE NEED 18
35 WHAT IS IT I NEED 17
36 WHO IS IT YOU WANT 16
37 WHAT IS IT YOU FIND 15
38 WHY IS IT YOU CAN 15
39 WHY IS IT WE CAN 14
40 WHAT WAS IT HE SAID 14
41 WHAT IS IT I CAN 14
42 WHAT IS IT YOU ‘D 13
43 WHAT IS IT YOU SEE 13
44 WHAT IS IT YOU SAY 13
45 WHY IS IT YOU WANT 12
46 WHY IS IT YOU DO 12
47 WHAT IS IT YOU FEAR 12
48 WHAT IS IT YOU ENJOY 12
49 WHAT IS IT THEY ‘RE 11
50 WHAT IS IT WE EXPECT 11
B1:
expect, fear
B2:
seek