The need for question words in any language is beyond doubt. But how else to ask and learn about specific places, objects and people, time and direction? From this article you will learn all about special words in English questions. Most of them start with the wh, but there are other options.
Types of Questions
There are 5 types of interrogative sentences in English: alternative, dividing, general, questions to the subject and special. Just in the last two types, special words are used that became the topic of this article.
Interrogative words in English are always put at the beginning of a sentence. Then follows the verb: semantic (if it is a question to the subject) or auxiliary (when a special question is asked). For instance:
What makes you happy? - What pleases you? (this is a question for the subject).
What have you seen? - What did you see? (special question).
In the above sentences, the question word is what. Next you will see a list of other representatives of this group.
English interrogative words
The table below contains all the special words at the beginning of the questions.
Interrogative word | Transcription | Transfer | Example in a sentence |
who? | [huː] | Who? | Who are you? Who are you? |
whom? | [huːm] | to whom? whom? | Whom does she call? Who is she calling? |
whose? | [huːz] | whose? | Whose is that car? Whose car is this? |
what? | [wɔt] | what? | What did he buy? What did he buy? |
which? | [wɪʧ] | which the? | Which house is ours? Which of our houses? |
where? | [wɛə] | Where? where to? | Where do you live? Where do you live? |
when? | [wen] | when? | When does the shop open? When does the store open? |
why? | [waɪ] | why? | Why is it so cold? Why is it so cold? |
how? | [hau] | as? | How do they work? How do they work? |
As can be seen from the table, question words in English almost all begin with the letter wh (although it is read differently in different words).
It is also necessary to say that the question word whom is currently almost not used and replaced by who:
Who does she call?
Now we consider combinations of words that also have an interrogative meaning and are put at the beginning of sentences.
Combinations
Sometimes interrogative words in the English language are combined with other words and form interrogative phrases.
What kind of? - Which one?
What kind of music do you like? What kind of music do you like?
What kind of person is she? What kind of person is she? What is her character?
Most often, such combinations can be found with the word how.
- How many? - How much? (for countable nouns).
How many people live there? - How many people live there?
- How much? - How much? (for uncountable nouns).
How much does it cost? - How much does it cost?
How long do you know him? “How long have you known him?”
- How long ago? - How long?
How long ago did she leave? −How long has she left?
How often do you meet? - How often do you meet?
How old is he? - How old is he?
Cliche
Quite often, interrogative words in English can be found in phrases with a stable structure and meaning. These cliches cannot always be translated and understood literally, so you just need to know them so that when you meet them in someone else's speech or in the text, you won’t get confused.
What is going on? / What is happening? - What is going on?
What is the point of ...? - Does it make sense in ...?
What is taking so long? “Why so long?”
What took you so long? - Why did you (you) take so long?
What are you? - What is your (your) profession?
What's up? - How are you?
How are you doing? - How are you?
How can you tell ...? - How do you (you) know that ...?
Place in offer
In a special question, the first place is put the interrogative word (or phrase), then comes the auxiliary verb, followed by the subject, then the predicate, and after it the secondary members of the sentence.
Why do you stay here?
When asking a question to the subject, it is necessary to put the question word first, then the predicate (semantic verb), then the subject and the other members of the sentence.
Who lives here?
The answer to the question to the subject will be an almost identical sentence, only without a question mark at the end and with a noun (pronoun) in place of the interrogative word: Jack (he) lives here.
How to learn?
Question words are difficult for learners of English. Exercises will help to gradually remember them. You can start with simple tasks, where the question marks from the available list are inserted into the sentences at the place of passes. Then you need to gradually complicate the work: omissions with self-selection of options, answers to questions, composing dialogs, performing audio tasks and much more.