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How vs. Why 

howinterrogative adverbsrelative adverbswhy
"How" vs. "Why" in the English grammar

What Is Their Main Difference?

The main difference between 'why' and 'how' is that 'why' asks about the purpose of something while 'how' asks about the procedure.

Parts of Speech

'Why' and 'how' have a slight difference in their parts of speech. We have summarized it for you in a table below for better understanding:

Why

How

Interrogative adverb

✓

✓

Conjunction

✗

✓

Relative adverb

✓

✗

'Why' and 'how' are mainly used at the beginning of the sentence to ask questions.

Example

Why are you so sad?

How is your leg?

'How' is used as a conjunction. It is used to connect clauses. Conjunctions have several types according to the meaning they convey. 'How' is classified as a conjunction of manner.

Example

You can design it how you like it.

Do you know how to fix this typewriter.

'Why' can be used as a relative adverb. It joins an independent clause to an adjective clause. Note that in this case it follows the noun 'reason.'

Example

I like pizza a lot, the reasonwhy is the toppings and the cheese.

The one reason why I quit was that I felt unappreciated.

Meaning

'Why' and 'how' are completely different when it comes to the meaning they convey. 'Why' asks about the 'reason' of something and 'how' asks about the 'method' or 'way' of something.

Example

Why are you running?

How far is your house?

Comments

(1)
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Gloria Haskins
Oct 2023
My mother left me when I was 3 months in foster care, she wants me back in her life. At first I wanted to ask why ,but now I want to know how could you do this to me,and the difference also how to use it in a sentence .
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