To Accept or Not to Accept, That is the Question
Firstly two key terms.
The person asking the question is known as the 'Querent' and the subject of the question is known as the 'Quesited' . Your very first task when the querent asks their question is to decide whether the quesited is an acceptable subject for horary. This might seem rather churlish, having asked them to think long and hard about their question but there are some things that you should not attempt to answer and some times that you need to negotiate a change in the question with the querent.
Things that are not acceptable
Any question that asks you to reveal the mind of God or the fundamental purpose of life, or even the existence or not of the deity. You are not authorised to speak for God, nor are you able to read the divine purpose from a horary chart or indeed any chart, unless God chooses to reveal herself through it. So if the question is 'Does God intend me to be a missionary to Alabama?' You don't accept the question but you do try to negotiate a change - see below.
Any question that involves the possible answer never, such as 'Will I ever get married?' or 'Will I ever find my missing arring?' Both questions allow Yes or No answers but the 'No' answer entails that the quesited will never happen. Imagine the headline 'Astrikiger told me I would never marry', says bride or even worse the psychological pain of being told that you will never marry, even though that is your strong desire. Horary deals with the here and now - the word Horary comes from the Greek word that is the basis of our word 'hour' Any Horary answer is transient - the planets move on and the chart changes. So the answer is also transient - it is for the current situation and not for eternity. Again seek to modify the question to a reasonable time period - the next few days, weeks or months as seem appropriate. A maximum of two years is a good rule of thumb for fairly long term questions such as 'Will someone buy my house, now it's up for sale?'
Any question the answer to which is in the full control of the querent, such as 'Will I read Pride and Prejudice during the next month?' Clearly the querent can choose to read it or not and doesn't need a horary question for that. Indeed, sometimes these are asked as trick quesitons to prove that the Astrologer is wrong - the indications in the chart are good but the querent chooses deliberately to thwart the Astrologer. However make sure to check that the question is not really concerned with something else. If the question were asked by a visually impaired person who cannot read a book but is going to have corrective surgery in the next week or so. then the real question is 'Will the operation be a success?' and being able to read Pride and Prejudice is the criterion of being a success.
Any question that is idle speculation - that is the querent has no real interest in the outcome. These may require a bit of detective work and discussion with the querent For example will Tom in Marketing marry Harriet in Accounts, may simply be idle speculation by Richard in Sales and was dreamt up during a morning when his workload was low and he was bored. He doesn't really care and in such circumstances the Cosmos might not care to give him anything but a random answer. However if Richard is desperately in love with Harriet and is thinking of inviting her out for a date, he has an interest and the question is valid. The same goes with a question such as 'Will Prancer win the 3:30 race at Haydock?' it might be idle speculation or the querent might have £300 riding on the outcome.
Things to modify
All modifications should be discussed with the client but the key ones are
Mind of God questions should be modified to something like - 'Have I the talent to be a good missionary to Alabama?'
'Never' questions - agree a time frame, preferably of months rather than years or even shorter if the situation allows it.
Any question that is vague, confused or ambiguous. It's important that the question is understood by you in the same way as it is understood by the querent, so you need to check this through, especially if you realise that one or more words in the question can have different meanings. The question 'Will I get a new job next month?' seems fairly unambiguous but what does the client mean by 'new job' - will a sideways move in the employer's organisation count as a 'new job'? If the querent has been desperately trying to find a job with a new employer this would not be what they meant when they asked the question. The question also implies that they are actively seeking a new job but it's worth checking on that - some people such as high flying executives and football club managers get head hunted but most of us have to actively apply for a new job. So is the question idle speculation, is it seriously intended but the querent is not actually doing anything to secure the outcome or are they actively seeking a new job? All of these will effect the way that you read the chart.