Interrogative Pronouns for intermediate learners
There are five interrogative pronouns in English. Each is used to ask a specific question. In this lesson, we will learn more about these pronouns.
What Are Interrogative Pronouns?
When we want to make questions in English, we use interrogative pronouns. Although they are the same as 'wh words', you should know that they differ in use and that not all 'wh-words' are interrogative pronouns. Look at the table below:
How to Use Them
Interrogative Pronouns as the Subject
In this case, we simply replace the subject of the sentence with an interrogative pronoun accordingly. The verb remains the same and nothing else is added or removed. Pay attention to the following examples:
As you can see, simply the subject is removed and an interrogative pronoun is used.
Interrogative Pronouns as the Object
Using interrogative pronouns as objects is a bit different. First, you have to remove the object in the sentence and then turn the sentence into a yes/no question and then add the interrogative pronoun to the beginning of the sentence. Let us study the following examples carefully:
I'm talking about
As you can see, the place of the verb is changed accordingly.
She's pointing to
Who and Whose
'Who' is used to ask about people. We normally use 'who' to ask about the subject and the object. Look at the following examples:
Tip!
It is useful to know that another interrogative pronoun is 'whom'. It is old-fashioned and formal and is not that common among English speakers. Its main purpose is to replace the object of the sentence. Look at the following example:
'Whose' is the only possessive pronoun here and it replaces possessive nouns or possessive determiners. Its purpose is to indicate ownership. Study the following examples:
That bus is
She is talking to
Warning!
Be careful that there is a slight difference between 'What' and 'Which'. When we use 'What' as an interrogative pronoun, we can have an infinite number of answers. However, when using 'which', we have a limited range of answers. Look at the following examples below:
Interrogative Determiners
If these interrogative pronouns are followed by a noun, they are no longer called pronouns. They will be called interrogative determiners. Pay attention to the following examples:
As you can see, the interrogative pronoun is followed by a noun which turns it to a determiner.