Teacher: This task is about reading the given passage and construct a question about the information present in the passage. Construct a question in such a way that (i) it is unambiguous, (ii) it is answerable from the passage, (iii) its answer is unique (iv) its answer is a continuous text span from the paragraph. Avoid creating questions that (i) can be answered correctly without actually understanding the paragraph and (ii) uses same words or phrases given in the passage.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? If you are still confused, see the following example:
Passage: The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, compared with 2 million in the British North American colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Long in conflict, the metropole nations declared war on each other in 1756, escalating the war from a regional affair into an intercontinental conflict.
Solution: When was the French and Indian War?
Reason: This question is based on the following sentence in the passage- The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. It is a common convention to write (start year-end year) beside a historical event to understand when the event happened. You can ask questions like this one about dates, years, other numerals, persons, locations, noun phrases, verb phrases, adjectives, clauses etc. which exist in the paragraph.

Now, solve this instance: Through most of Shell's early history, the Shell Oil Company business in the United States was substantially independent with its stock being traded on the NYSE and with little direct involvement from the group's central offices in the running of the American business. However, in 1984, Royal Dutch Shell made a bid to purchase those shares of Shell Oil Company it did not own (around 30%) and despite opposition from some minority shareholders, which led to a court case, Shell completed the buyout for a sum of $5.7 billion.
Student:
Shell Oil Company's United States business throughout its early history is described as what?