Learning the question words along with their usage in examples helps us to ask different kinds of questions in English. We use these words to ask typical questions when we communicate with someone. In this article, we are going to cover all the question words in English with their helpful usage and more details of them.
Let’s learn the use of all question words in different situations. We use the question words for:
Question Words in English
1. What, Which and Whose before a Noun
These question words can be pronouns, without a noun after them.
- What will be the best train?
- There are lots of books here. Which do you want?
- Whose was the idea?
They can also be determiners, coming before a noun.
- What train will you catch? (You will catch a train.)
- Which books do you want? (You want some of the books.)
- Whose idea was it? (It was someone’s idea.)
Which can come before one/ones or before an of-phrase.
- Which ones do you want?
- Which of these postcards shall we send to Angela?
2. The use of Who, What and Which
Who always refers to people.
Which can refer to people or to something not human.
What refers mostly to something not human, but it can refer to people when it comes before a noun.
| Human | Non-human |
| Who is your math teacher? | Which supermarket is cheapest? |
| Which teacher do you have? | What book are you reading? |
| What idiot wrote this? | What do you do in the evenings? |
Who is a pronoun and cannot come before a noun or before an of-phrase?
- NOT Who teacher do you have? and NOT Who of the teachers do you have?
There is a difference in meaning between what and which.
Examples included:
- What do you do in your spare time?
- Which is the best route?
- What sport do you play?
- Which way do we go now?
We use what when there is an indefinite (and often large) number of possible answers.
We use which when there is a definite (and often small) number of possible answers.
What relates to the indefinite word a, and which to the definite word the.
What sport…? (a sport)
- (Tennis, or golf, or football, or…)
Which way…? (one of the ways)
- (Right or left?)
The choice of what or which depends on how the speaker sees the number of possible answers. In some contexts either word is possible.
- What newspaper/Which newspaper do you read?
- What parts/Which parts of France have you visited?
- What size/Which size do you take?
NOTE
We can use what to suggest that there are no possible answers.
Why don’t you invite a few friends? ~ What friends? I haven’t got any friends.
3. Who and Whom
When who is the object, we can use whom instead.
- Who/Whom did you invite?
Whom is formal and rather old-fashioned. Who is more common in everyday speech.
When who/whom is the object of a preposition, there are two possible patterns.
- Who were you talking to?
- To whom were you talking?
The pattern with whom is formal.
4. How
How can express means or manner.
- How do you open this bottle? (You open this bottle somehow.)
- How did the children behave? (The children behaved well/badly.)
When it expresses degree, how can come before an adjective or adverb.
- How wide is the river? (20 meters/30 meters wide?)
- How soon can you let me know? (very soon/quite soon?)
We also use how as an adjective or adverb in friendly enquiries about someone’s well-being, enjoyment, or progress.
- How are you? ~ Fine, thanks.
- How did you like the party?— Oh, it was great.
- How are you getting on at college? ~ Fine, thanks. I’m enjoying it.
5. A special pattern with Why
Why (not) can come before a noun phrase or a verb.
- Why the panic? (= What is the reason for the panic?)
- Look at our prices—why pay more? (= Why should you pay more?)
- Why not stay for a while? (= Why don’t you stay for a while?)
6. Modifying a Question Word
We can use an adverb to modify a question word or phrase.
- When exactly are you coming back?
- Just what will tomorrow bring?
- About how many people live here?
Else has the meaning ‘other’.
- What else should I do? (= What other things … ?)
- Who else did you invite? (= What other people … ?)
We can emphasize the question by using on earth.
- What on earth will tomorrow bring?
We can also use ever.
- What ever/Whatever can the matter be?
- How ever/However did you manage to find us?
- Who ever/Whoever invited that awful man?
Overview: Question Words
| Question Word | Example | Word Class | Positive Expression |
| Who, Whom, What | Who won?
What happened? What sport(s)? |
pronoun
pronoun determiner |
someone
something a sport, some sports |
| Which | Which is/are best?
Which sport(s)? |
pronoun | one of them, some of them
one of the sports, some of the sports |
| Whose | Whose was the idea?
Whose idea was it? |
pronoun
determiner |
someone’s
someone’s |
| Where |
Where shall we go? | adverb of place | somewhere |
| When |
When did it happen? | adverb of time | some time |
| Why |
Why are you here? | adverb of reason | for some reason |
| How | How do you open it?
How did they behave? How wide is it? How are you? |
adverb of means
adverb of manner adverb of degree adjective |
for some reason
somehow |
Question Phrases
What and how can combine with other words to form phrases.
What can come before a noun.
- What time is the next train?~ Ten eleven.
- What colour shirt was he wearing? ~ Blue, I think.
- What kind of/type of/sort of computer have you got? ~ Oh, it’s just a desktop machine.
- What make is your car? ~ It’s a BMW.
We use what about/how about to draw attention to something or to make a suggestion.
- What about/How about all this rubbish? Who’s going to take it away?
- What about/How about some lunch? ~ Good idea.
How can come before an adjective or an adverb.
- How old is this building? ~ About two hundred years old.
- How far did you walk? ~ Miles.
- How often does the machine need servicing? ~ Once a year.
- How long can you stay? ~ Not long, I’m afraid.
It can also come before many or much.
- How many people live in the building? ~ Twelve.
- How much is the cheap ticket? ~ Fifteen pounds seventy-five.
NOTE
How come is an informal phrase meaning ‘why’. There is no inversion.
- How come all these papers have been left here?~ I’m in the middle of sorting them out.
So, that was our today’s lesson where we learned all about the question words in English along with their helpful usage and example sentences. As I said above, we use these question words to ask typical information and questions in English. There are many different ways to ask questions in English. For a good impression and positive response, we have to use a polite way to ask questions or get information about someone or something.
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