4. Interrogative pronouns Interrogative pronouns are used in asking questions. The pronouns who, what and which are used as interrogative pronouns. e.g. Who telephoned? What did you say? Which is your brother? a. Direct questions Interrogative pronouns can be placed at the beginning of a sentence in order to ask a ‘question. Such questions can be referred to as direct questions. Ina direct question, when the interrogative pronoun is the subject of a verb, the verb follows the subject. In the following examples, the verbs are underlined, and the subjects of the verbs are printed in bold type. e.g. What has happened? ‘Who has been invited? In these examples, what is the subject of the verb has happened, and who is the subject of the verb has been invited. The presence of the interrogative pronoun transforms the statement into a question, and a question mark must be used. When the interrogative pronoun is the object of the verb or the object of a preposition, inverted word order must be used, with the first auxiliary preceding the subject of the verb. In the case of verbs in the Simple Present or Simple Past, the auxiliary do or did must be used. e.g. What do you mean? Which did she choose? What is he doing? To what can one attribute their success? In the preceding examples, the subjects you, she, he and one are preceded by the auxiliaries do, did, is and can. In the first three examples, what and which are the objects of the verbs. In the fourth example, what is the object of the preposition to. See Exercise 6. b. The pronoun Who The pronoun who usually refers only to persons. Unlike the other interrogative pronouns, who changes its form depending on the case, as shown in the following table. Subjective Case Objective Case Possessive Case who ‘whom ‘whose i. Who When who is the subject of a verb, the subjective case must be used. e.g. Who opened the door? Who will help me? SeyfiHoca www.seyfihoca.com 253It should be noted that when who is used with the verb to be, or with verbs in the Passive Voice, the subjective case must usually be used, since such verbs cannot take an object. e.g. Who is it? Who was the fastest runner? Who will be there? Who has been elected? The first three examples above illustrate the use of who with the verb to be. The fourth example illustrates the use of who with a verb in the Passive Voice. ii. Whom In formal English, when the pronoun who is the object of a verb or the object of a preposition, the objective form whom must be used. e.g. Whom did you see downtown? To whom did you send the invitations? In the first example, whom is the object of the verb see. In the second example, whom is the object of the preposition to. In informal English, the form who is often used for the objective as well as for the subjective case. For instance, in informal English, the preceding examples might be ‘expressed Who did you see downtown? and Who did you send the invitations to? However, this use of who is considered to be grammatically incorrect in formal English. See Exercise 7. ili, Whose The form whose can be used either as a possessive adjective followed by a noun, or as a possessive pronoun. e.g. Whose books are these? Whose are these? In the first example, whose is used as a possessive adjective, followed by the noun books. In the second example, whose is used as a possessive pronoun. The possessive form whose expresses the idea of belonging to. For instance, the idea ‘expressed in the sentence: Whose books are these? could also be expressed by the sentence: To whom do these books belong? See Exercise 8. c. What and Which What and which can be used either as interrogative pronouns, or as interrogative adjectives followed by nouns. e.g. What is that? Which is his sister? What time is it? Which woman is his sister? In the first two examples, what and which are used as interrogative pronouns. In the last two examples, what and which are used as interrogative adjectives preceding the nouns time and woman SeyfiHoca www.seyfihoca.com 254When used as adjectives or as interrogative pronouns, what and which can refer to either persons or things. In the following examples, what and which are used as interrogative adjectives referring to persons and things. e.g. What girl would not like to own a horse? What color are the apples? Which boy is the best horseback rider? Which road leads to Chicago? However, it should be noted that when used as a relative pronoun, which can refer only to things. Relative pronouns will be discussed later in this chapter. Which as an adjective or interrogative pronoun usually implies a choice of one or more things from a limited number of alternatives. e.g. Which apple would you like? Which children were ready on time? The first example implies a choice of one apple from two or more apples. The second ‘example implies that an answer is expected which will indicate certain children from a limited group of children. In contrast, what as an adjective or interrogative pronoun is usually used in order to ask for general information. e.g. What time is it? What does he want? What can also be used in exclamations. For instance, the exclamation What! can be Used to express surprise or disbelief. The following are other examples of the use of what in exclamations. e.g. What nonsense! What a shame! What a beautiful day! In written English, an exclamation must be followed by an exclamation mark: | It should be noted that exclamations often do not contain verbs. As illustrated above, when an exclamatory what precedes a singular, countable noun, the word what must be followed by a or an. e.g. What a coincidence! What an elegant dress! See Exercise 9. d. Indirect questions ‘As well as being used at the beginning of direct questions, interrogative pronouns and adjectives can also be used at the beginning of indirect questions. Whereas a direct question forms a complete sentence in itself, an indirect question is part of a longer sentence. The following examples show the difference between a direct question and an indirect question. e.g. Who is ther He wants to know who is there. Will you tell me who is there? SeyfiHoca www.seyfihoca.com 255In the first example, Who is there? is a direct question. In the second example, who is there is an indirect question which is part of a longer statement. In the third example, who is there is an indirect question which is part of a longer question. i, Interrogative word as the subject When the interrogative word is the subject of a verb, or modifies the subject of a verb, the word order of an indirect question is usually the same as that of a direct question. In the following examples, the verbs of the direct and indirect questions are underlined, and their subjects are printed in bold type. e.g. Direct Question: What has happened? Indirect Question: We shall ask what has happened. Direct Question: Which child won the race? Indirect Question: They will ask which child won the race. In the first pair of examples, the interrogative pronoun what is the subject of the verb has happened. In the second pair of examples, the interrogative adjective which modifies child, the subject of the verb won. In both pairs of examples, the word order of the indirect questions is the same as that of the direct questions. ii, Interrogative word as the object of a verb or preposition When the interrogative word is the object of a verb or preposition, or modifies the object of a verb or preposition, the word order of an indirect question differs from that of a direct question. In a direct question, the first auxiliary precedes the subject, and the auxiliary to do must be used for verbs in the Simple Present and Simple Past. In an indirect question, the subject precedes the verb, and the auxiliary to do is not used. Thus, in an indirect question, the word order used is the same as that used for an affirmative statement. This difference in word order is illustrated in the following examples. .g. Direct Question: What is he doing? Indirect Question: | will ask what he is doing. Direct Question: What story did they tell you? Indirect Question: | wonder what story they told you. Direct Question: Which does she prefer? Indirect Question: We asked which she prefers. Direct Question: Whom did he meet? Indirect Question: Tell me whom he met. Direct Question: To whom has she sent the invitations? Indirect Question: They will ask to whom she has sent the invitations. Direct Question: For which friend did they make the arrangements? Indirect Question: Do you know for which friend they made the arrangements? As illustrated in the preceding examples, when the interrogative word is the object of a SeyfiHoca www.seyfihoca.com 256verb or preposition, or modifies the object of a verb or preposition, the first auxiliary precedes the subject in a direct question, but the subject precedes the verb in an indirect question. See Exercise 10. ifi, The verb To Be with a noun or pronoun complement Anoun, noun phrase or pronoun which follows the verb to be is said to be the complement of the verb. When what or who is followed by both the verb to be and a noun or pronoun complement of the verb, the word order of an indirect question usually differs from that of a direct question. As illustrated in the following examples, ina direct question, the verb to be is followed by its complement; whereas in an indirect question, the verb to be is usually preceded by its complement. In each of the following examples, the verb to be is underlined, and its noun or pronoun complement is printed in bold type. e.g. Direct Question: What is that? Indirect question: Can you tell me what that is? Direct Question: What was that noise? Indirect Question: I wonder what that noise was. Direct Question: What time is it? Indirect Question: Ask him what time it is. Direct Question: Who is she? Indirect Question: Do you know who she is? Direct question: Who was that man? Indirect Question: | will ask who that man was. Direct Question: Whose shoes are these? Indirect Question: I wonder whose shoes these are. Similarly, when which is followed by the verb to be, followed by a pronoun, the pronoun complement generally precedes the verb in an indirect question. ¢.g. Direct question: Which was it? Indirect Question: | want to know which it was. Direct Question: Which organization is that? Indirect Question: Please ask which organization that is. However, when which is followed by the verb to be followed by a noun or noun phrase, ‘the noun complement often follows the verb in an indirect question. e.g. Direct Question: Which is the right road? Indirect Question: Please tell me which is the right road. Direct Question: Which insects are predators? Indirect Question: He wants to know which insects are predators. SeyfiHoca www.seyfihoca.com 257