People of any age, of course, are innately driven by the desire to learn something new. Questions can be asked in many ways; thus, it becomes an interesting exercise. The information-seeking curiosity in this regard is served by interrogative pronouns which serve to help you ask questions. Although the all the interrogative pronouns have been illustrated earlier, here you will read about the interrogative pronouns with examples and difference between interrogative pronoun and interrogative adjective.
What is an Interrogative Pronouns?
An interrogative pronoun is used in forming questions and may refer to an individual, a thing or some persons. The five interrogative pronouns in English are: What, which, who, whom and whose are the interrogative words of the relative pronoun.
Definition of Interrogative Pronouns:
According to the Cambridge Dictionary ‘interrogative’ means a word or sentence used to put a question. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary define interrogative as a word such as who, what, or which that is used in asking a question. Interrogative pronoun can therefore be defines as a pronoun which replaces a person or thing in a question.
How to Use Interrogative Pronouns:
Every single interrogative pronoun is employed to make questions of different types: direct and indirect regarding somebody or something. ‘Who,’ ‘whom,’ and ‘whose’ is used only for people and ‘what,’ and ‘which’ can be related to both people and things. These pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns in compound sentence.
Indeed, this is how to decide, whether an interrogative pronoun is the subject of a sentence or not, try answering the question.
Example 1: Who delivered the speech of the occasion?
Answer: Nick was delivered the convention’s keynote speech.
Explanation: Here, who is placed after the verb have and Nick is the doer of this action so ‘Who’ is the subject.
Example 2: To whom did it occur?
Answer: I talked to Claire — Mrs. Claire.
Example 1: Who delivered the speech of the occasion?
Answer: Nick was delivered the convention’s keynote speech.
Explanation: Here, who is placed after the verb have and Nick is the doer of this action so ‘Who’ is the subject.
Example 2: To whom did it occur?
Answer: I talked to Claire — Mrs. Claire.
Example 3: Whose is this black bag?
Answer: It is mine.
Explanation: These presented ‘it’ as the black bag, where ‘whom’ was used as an object pronoun.
‘What’ and ‘which’ may be used to mean people or things depending on the context of use.
Answer: It is mine.
Explanation: These presented ‘it’ as the black bag, where ‘whom’ was used as an object pronoun.
‘What’ and ‘which’ may be used to mean people or things depending on the context of use.
Examples in Sentences:
- What do you want? (Object)
- What is your name? (Person)
- Which is your favorite story? (Object)
- Which one of you didn’t do your homework? (Person)
Difference between an Interrogative Pronoun and an Interrogative Adjective:
At this point, however, it would be helpful to draw a brief distinction between an interrogative pronoun and an interrogative adjective.
For this reason, interrogative pronouns and interrogative adjectives are different depending on their place in the sentence. Interrogative adjectives are those words that tell more about a noun than any other part of the noun does. If it finds or replaces a noun which serves as subject or object, then it is called an interrogative pronoun.
Interrogative Pronoun Examples:
For this reason, interrogative pronouns and interrogative adjectives are different depending on their place in the sentence. Interrogative adjectives are those words that tell more about a noun than any other part of the noun does. If it finds or replaces a noun which serves as subject or object, then it is called an interrogative pronoun.
Interrogative Pronoun Examples:
The six questions are What are you looking for?
What is his name and nickname if you know the person who committed this act of theft and snatching your purse?
Interrogative Adjective Examples:
With that said, what shade should I be wearing?
What book did you purchase?
What is his name and nickname if you know the person who committed this act of theft and snatching your purse?
Interrogative Adjective Examples:
With that said, what shade should I be wearing?
What book did you purchase?
Common mistake with Interrogative Pronoun:
One of the usual errors when using interrogative is in applying interrogative pronoun and interrogative adjectives interchangeably. It is still very easy to get confused between interrogative pronouns and adjectives because they employ terms like “which”, “what” or “whose”.
Interrogative pronouns are the ones that are used in asking questions in place of the noun which it stands for while interrogative adjectives are the ones that are used in describing a noun in a question.
For example:
Incorrect: ”My question is: which book do you like?”
Here, “which” is oftener confused with the interrogative one. However, because it is used before the noun ‘book, ‘ the word functions as an interrogative adjective.
Correct: For example, you may ask: “Which one do you like better?”
In this case the word ‘which’ is accurate as an interrogative pro- noun because it replaces the noun and doesn’t other one word.
Interrogative pronouns are the ones that are used in asking questions in place of the noun which it stands for while interrogative adjectives are the ones that are used in describing a noun in a question.
For example:
Incorrect: ”My question is: which book do you like?”
Here, “which” is oftener confused with the interrogative one. However, because it is used before the noun ‘book, ‘ the word functions as an interrogative adjective.
Correct: For example, you may ask: “Which one do you like better?”
In this case the word ‘which’ is accurate as an interrogative pro- noun because it replaces the noun and doesn’t other one word.
To avoid this mistake, bear in mind that the so called interrogative pronouns are used individually, substituting a noun in the sentence, whereas interrogative adjectives gives additional details about the noun in a question. Awareness of this difference makes it possible for one to apply these terms appropriately while in different situations.
The Importance of Interrogative Pronouns:
Interrogative pronouns are of significance in English since they are used to frame questions, and to get information. These are ‘who, what, which and whom’ kinds of words that assist in peculiar and specific features of people, objects or a certain event. They are very important in oral and written communication since they facilitate efficient and precise questioning. Interrogative pronouns therefore helps us to get information, find clarification and participate in meaningful discourse, hence they are essential tools of communication.