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Interrogative Pronouns For beginners

In this lesson, beginners will learn about English Interrogative Pronouns with simple explanations, clear examples, and practice exercises.

interrogative pronounsinterrogativespronounswhatwhichwhowhomwhose
Interrogative Pronouns in English Grammar

What Are Interrogative Pronouns?

Interrogative pronouns are pronouns that are used to ask questions.

English Interrogative Pronouns

The main interrogative pronouns in English are:

Interrogative Pronouns Example
Who Who are you?
What What is that?
Which Which is the most beautiful?

Who

'Who' is an interrogative pronoun that is used to ask questions about people. For example:

'Who is he?' 'He is Sam.'

'Who ate the last slice of the cake?' 'Angela.'

What

'What' is an interrogative pronoun that is used to ask questions about things. For example:

'What happened?' 'Nothing happened.'

Tip!

Both 'who' and 'what' can be used to ask questions about either subject or object of a sentence, but when asking questions about objects, an auxiliary needs to be used between the interrogative pronoun and the subject of the verb. Look at the examples:

-What did you eat? + I ate a sandwich.

Here, 'sandwich' is the object of the verb and the interrogative pronoun 'what' is asking about it, and the auxiliary 'did' is added.

- Who are you calling? + I'm calling my friend.

Here, 'my friend' is the object of the verb and 'who' is used to ask about it and 'are' acts as an auxiliary.

Which

The interrogative pronoun 'which' is used to ask questions about a specific item or selection from several options. Like 'what' and 'who, 'which' can also be used to ask questions about both subject and object and the rule about adding an auxiliary also works here. For example:

- Which is yours? + The black one is mine.

Here, 'which' asks about the subject. Here, 'is' acts as he main verb, NOT the auxiliary.

- Which do you want, tea or coffee? + I want coffee.

In this sentence, 'which' is asking about the object, so the auxiliary 'do' is used between the interrogative pronoun and the subject.

Quiz:

1.
Which question asks about a person?
A
Who are you calling?
B
What are you reading?
C
Which do you prefer?
2.
Sort the sentence into the correct order.
is
or white
your
favorite
?
black
which
,
color
3.
Match the interrogate pronouns with their correct ending.
Who
What
Which
did you buy yesterday?
is your favorite genre, drama or comedy?
ate my sandwich?
4.
Fill in the blanks with the correct interrogative pronoun.
did you eat for lunch?
happened at the meeting yesterday?
can help me with my homework?
is better, football or basketball?
is the problem?
what
who
which
5.
Which sentence is correct?
A
Which you want, tea or coffee?
B
What is he eating?
C
What did she wanted?
D
Who she called?

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