Interrogative Adverbs for intermediate learners
Interrogative adverbs are words such as 'why' and 'where' that are used to ask questions. In this lesson, we will learn more about them.
What Are Interrogative Adverbs?
As their name suggests, interrogative adverbs are used to ask questions.
What Kinds of Interrogative Adverbs Do We Have?
Mainly, interrogative adverbs are classified into four groups. Take a look at the list below:
- Interrogative Adverbs of Time
- Interrogative Adverbs of Manner
- Interrogative Adverbs of Place
- Interrogative Adverbs of Reason
Now, let us see how each category functions and is used in statements:
Interrogative Adverbs of Time
Interrogative adverbs of time are used to ask questions and demand information about time. Words such as 'When', 'how long', and 'how often' are used in this category. Let us examine some examples below:
As you can see, the sentence is asking about the duration of an action.
Interrogative Adverbs of Manner
The second group is called interrogative adverbs of manner. These adverbs ask about how an action has been performed. Questions of this kind begin with 'how'. Let us take a quick look at some examples:
As you can see, the sentence asks about what manner the action took place in.
Interrogative Adverbs of Place
The third group is called interrogative adverbs of place. 'Where' is used to ask about the location of something. Pay attention to the following examples:
Here, the sentence is asking about the location of an action or a person.
Interrogative Adverbs of Reason
The next group of this category is called interrogative adverbs of reason. These adverbs are used when we want to ask questions to know about the reasons something did or did not happen. 'Why' is mainly used in this form of a question. Let us take a look at the examples below:
As you can see, the sentence demands a reason as an answer.
Tip!
It is useful to know that these adverbs can also be interrogative determiners, although both are used to ask questions, an interrogative determiner always modifies a noun, whereas an interrogative adverb always comes alone and never modifies a noun. Compare the following sentences:
Here, 'what' is followed by a noun which makes it an interrogative determiner.
Here, 'when' is used alone which makes it an interrogative determiner.
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