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.
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:
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. Using 'whatever' makes the question stronger and sometimes expresses a sense of surprise of disbelief. Pay attention to the examples:
What color is your eyes?
What kind of music do you like?
What time is it?
Whatever solution did they come up with that works?
Warning
Notice that in the following examples, 'what' is a pronoun, not a determiner.
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 set of options. The noun that follows 'which' introduces the category that the options belong to. Here are some examples:
Which way is the pharmacy?
Which movie do you want to watch?
Which restaurant did you go to?
Whichever candidate did they finally pick?
Warning
When 'which' appears alone in a sentence, without a noun or noun phrase following it, it acts as a pronoun, not a determiner.
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 identifies a particular noun or noun phrase with a limited range of possible answers, while 'what' is used to ask for more general or unspecified information about a 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 possession or ownership of something. The noun that follows 'whose' is the owned object or quality. Using 'whosever' is not very common, but when it is used, it makes the question emphatic and can express a sense of annoyance or frustration. Take a look at the examples:
Whose jacket is this?
Whose house is up for sale?
Whose iPhone was stolen?
Whosever idea was this disastrous party?
Warning
Now notice that in the following examples, 'whose' is a pronoun, not a determiner.
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:
Can you tell me what flavor you want for your ice cream?
Do you know which movie is his favorite?
I wonder whose house is up for sale.
Review
Interrogative words are words that are used to ask questions to get different information. Interrogative determiners come before a noun to ask about a specific feature of that noun. There are three main interrogative determiners in English:
Determiner | Pronoun | |
|---|---|---|
What | What number did you choose? | What are those boxes for? |
Which | Which office in this building is looking for new staff? | Which is worse: falling down the steps or falling into the cesspool? I experienced both today! |
Whose | Whose son is this young boy? | Whose are these beautiful puppies? |
Quiz:
Which sentence contains an interrogative determiner?
What is the problem with your phone?
Which tastes better—mangoes or peaches?
Whose shoes are these on the mat?
Whose is that umbrella by the door?
Which sentence correctly uses "whose" as an interrogative determiner?
Whose are those dishes in the sink?
Whose did she borrow for the trip?
Whose laptop needs to be fixed?
Whose is in charge of this room?
Sort these words to form a grammatically correct indirect question.
Complete each sentence using the correct interrogative determiner.
novel should I read to improve my writing skills?
smartphone is charging in the living room?
features matter most to users when choosing software?
books are scattered all over the table?
sport is more challenging: skiing or snowboarding?
Fill the table by deciding whether the sentence uses an interrgoative determiner or pronoun.
What book are you currently reading? | |
What caused the alarm to go off last night? | |
Whose is this brand new purse? | |
Which team will win the championship this year? | |
Whose car is blocking the driveway? |
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