Question words are a topic of great importance in the English language. A huge number of sentences is made up with the help of interrogative words. At first glance, this topic does not seem complicated, but questions arise over time. For example, very often students cannot immediately grasp what the difference is between whom and whose. This article and many more will be answered by this article.
Interrogative pronouns
Difficulties can arise with a separate category of interrogative words: interrogative pronouns. Interrogative pronouns include who, whom, what, which and whose.
What is the difficulty? These pronouns are quite similar in sound and in meaning, so sometimes they are easy to confuse. For those who have just begun to learn English, it will be useful to immediately understand the difference between these words.
Interrogative pronoun whom
Most often, many forget what the difference is between whom and whose. Let's deal with each pronoun separately, starting with the first. First of all, this interrogative pronoun is used in relation to persons, and not to objects. In Russian, most often whom is translated as “whom”. For instance:
Whom did you see there? - Who did you see there?
Whom did you ask about that problem? “Who did you ask about this problem?”
In this case, this interrogative pronoun serves as a direct complement. However, it can also act as an indirect complement. In this case, whom can be used in combination with various pretexts that will be appropriate in meaning. Examples:
To whom did you show that picture? - To whom did you show this photo?
With whom did you go to the cinema? - Who did you go to the movies with?
Interrogative pronoun whose (whose)
And in order to finally understand what is the difference between whom and whose, we’ll consider how whose is used. In Russian, whose is translated as "whose." Whose plays the role of a pronoun-adjective, always faces a definable noun.
It is worth noting that the article should not be before the noun, since whose role is assumed by whose. Examples of use:
Whose letter is that? - Whose letter is it?
Whose book is that? - Whose book is this?
Now we can answer what is the difference between whom and whose:
- whom is used only in relation to persons, can be paired with pretexts, performs the function of direct or indirect addition;
- whose acts as the pronoun-subject, is used together with nouns denoting objects, and replaces the article.
Interrogative pronoun who
Now consider the difference between who and which. To begin with, we will deal with each word separately, starting with who. In a sentence, this word plays the role of either the subject or the nominal part of the predicate. It depends on what the question is being asked.
Consider the following examples:
Who is that woman? - Who is that woman?
Who did that? - Who did this?
If who acts as the subject, then the verb following it is used only in the singular. If this interrogative pronoun acts as the nominal part of the predicate, then the verb is consistent with the noun / pronoun, which expresses the subject.
Interrogative pronoun which (which)
The subtitle indicates one of the translation options which, but this option is not the only one. Also this word can be translated as what, who and what. Everything will depend on the meaning of the proposal. It is worth noting that which can be used with inanimate nouns as well as with animate ones.
Firstly, which can be used as a definition of a noun. In this case, the article does not need to be used before the defined word. Examples:
Which book did you like best? - Which book did you like the most?
Which of you speaks German? “Which of you speak German?”
And here you can see the case when which can be confused with who. In the final example, which translates to “who.” However, when it comes to choosing from among persons / objects, which is used. In the last sentence of the example, we are talking about choosing from a number of persons. Some of them allegedly speak German. In this case, the pronoun which may correspond to the translation “who”.
Interrogative pronoun what (what)
It’s pretty easy to grasp what the difference is between what and who. The first word denotes objects, and the second - persons. What can play the role of the subject, direct complement, the nominal part of the predicate. This word can be translated in different ways, one of the translation options is that. But let's look at what in different functions:
What has happened? - What happened?
In this case, what acts as the subject and translates as “what.”
What are the results of your exam? - What are the results of your exam?
And here what plays the role of the nominal part of the predicate. The form of the verb in this case depends on the subject.
What have you bought? - What did you buy?
And so what is used as a supplement.
What is the difference between who is it and who is he?
At first glance, these phrases look very simple. But only at first. Let's start with who is he.
This phrase is used if you want to know someone's last name. Example:
-Who is he? - He is Ivanov.
If you need to ask about the profession, then the question will already sound like this:
-What is he? - He is a doctor.
These phrases need to be remembered and try not to be confused.
Who is it? can be translated as "Who is this?"
So that in future there will be no difficulties when using interrogative pronouns, you should carefully study how they are used, with which parts of speech are combined, and with which not, and how they differ. It is also necessary to learn how to correctly ask a question about a profession and how it differs from a question about a surname.