Interrogative Determiners 

In this lesson, master interrogative determiners, which are used to form questions and provide detailed information about nouns. Clear explanations and practice exercises to help you learn.

"Interrogative Determiners" in English Grammar

What Are Interrogative Determiners?

Interrogative determiners are used in direct and indirect questions to ask about a specific noun or noun phrase. They help to identify or specify the noun that is being referred to in the question.

English Interrogative Determiners

The three interrogative determiners in English are:

1.

what/whatever

2.

which/whichever

3.

whose/whosever

Interrogative Determiner: What

'What' is used in questions to ask for particular information about somebody or something. Unlike the pronoun 'what', which stands alone, the determiner 'what' always comes before a noun or a noun phrase. Pay attention to the examples:

Example

What color is your eyes?

What kind of music do you like?

What time is it?

Warning

Notice that in the following examples, 'what' is a pronoun, not a determiner.

Example

What do you do for a living?

What is your name?

Interrogative Determiner: Which

'Which' is an interrogative determiner used in questions to ask for specific information about one or more people or things from a limited number of options. Pay attention to the examples:

Example

Which way is the pharmacy?

Which movie do you want to watch?

Which restaurant did you go to?

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Warning

When 'which' appears alone in a sentence, without a noun or noun phrase following it, it acts as a pronoun, not a determiner.

Example

Which do you prefer: chocolate or vanilla?

Which is better: Harry Potter books or movies?

'What' vs. 'Which'

'Which' is considered a specific determiner because it helps to identify a particular noun or noun phrase with a limited range of possible answers, while 'what' is used to ask for more general information about an unknown or unspecified noun or noun phrase and is thus called a general determiner.

Interrogative Determiner: Whose

'Whose' is an interrogative determiner used in questions to ask about the possession or ownership of something. It functions both as a possessive determiner and an interrogative determiner, making it the only interrogative possessive determiner in English. Take a look at the examples:

Example

Whose jacket is this?

Whose house is up for sale?

Whose iPhone was stolen?

Warning

Now notice that in the following examples, 'whose' is a pronoun, not a determiner.

Example

Whose are these shoes?

Whose is that limo outside?

Interrogative Determiners in Indirect Questions

All the examples we have seen so far were examples of direct questions. But, interrogative determiners can also appear in indirect questions. For example:

Example

Can you tell me what flavor you want for your ice cream?

Do you know his sister is a teacher at which school?

I wonder whose house is up for sale.

Review

Interrogative words are words that are used to ask questions to get different information. There are three main interrogative words that we discussed in the article. Now, let us have a quick look over them.

Determiner

Pronoun

What

What school did you use to go?

What are Those boxes for?

Which

Which office in this building is looking for new staff?

Which is worse? falling off the steps or fall in to the cesspool? because I experiences both today!

Whose

Whose son is this young boy?

whose are these beautiful puppies?

Quiz:


1.

Which sentence uses "what" as an interrogative determiner?

A

What is troubling you today?

B

What documentary influenced your career choice?

C

What did the manager announce?

D

I wonder what caused the delay.

2.

Match each sentence in Column A to the correct description in Column B.

Which route avoids highway traffic during rush hour?
Whose project proposal won the innovation award?
Whatever justification did they provide for the budget cut?
Can you remember what ingredients go into this recipe?
Uses an emphatic interrogative determiner
Uses a possessive interrogative determiner
Uses a general interrogative determiner
Uses an interrogative determiner to ask about limited options
3.

Complete each sentence using the appropriate interrogative determiner.

jacket is hanging on the back of the chair? Is it yours?

restaurant did you choose for the celebration? The Chinese place or the Mediterranean?

breed is your dog?

option do you prefer? The cost-efficient one or the more luxurious?

Whose
What
Which
4.

Fill the table by choosing whether the sentence uses an interrogative determiner or pronoun.

What book did she recommend for the project?

Which jacket should I wear for the hike?

Whose are those books on the top shelf?

Whose laptop is on the kitchen counter?

What was inside the mysterious package?

interrogative determiner
interrogative pronoun
5.

Select the sentence with an interrogative determiner in an indirect question.

A

Which route saves more travel time?

B

Whichever route you pick will be scenic.

C

Tell me which route saves more travel time.

D

What route did you take yesterday?

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