Interrogative wordTheyare sometimes called wh-words, because in English most of them start with wh-. -- FEC

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Date Posted: 04:27:54 07/26/12 Thu
Author: what, which (impersonal)
Subject: Interrogative wordTheyare sometimes called wh-words, because in English most of them start with wh-.

Interrogative word
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"Interrogative" redirects here. For the grammatical mood, see Interrogative mood.
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In linguistics, an interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as where or what. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English most of them start with wh-. They may be used in both direct questions (Where is he going?) and in indirect questions (I wonder where he is going). In English and various other languages their forms are also used as relative pronouns in certain relative clauses (The country where he was born) and certain adverb clauses (I go where he goes).

A particular type of interrogative word is the interrogative particle, which serves to convert a statement into a yes–no question, without having any other meaning. Examples include est-ce que in French, ли li in Russian, and czy in Polish. The English word whether has a similar function, but only in indirect questions.

[edit] In EnglishInterrogative words in English include:

interrogative determiner
which, what
whose (interrogative possessive determiner)
interrogative pro-form
interrogative pronoun
who, whom (personal)
what, which (impersonal)
interrogative pro-adverb
where (location)
whence (source)
whither (goal)
when (time)
how (manner)
why, wherefore (reason)
whether (choice between alternatives)
[edit] Other languagesA frequent class of interrogative words in several other languages is the interrogative pro-verb:

Korean: Nalssi-ga eotteoh-seumni-kka? (Hangul: 날씨가 어떻습니까?) Weather-nominative be_how-politeness fifth level-interrogative suffix "How's the weather?"
Mongolian: Chi yaa-vch jaahan huuhed bish gej bi bod-jii-ne You do_what-concessive small child not that I think-progressive-nonpast "Whatever you do, I think you’re not a small child." (Example taken from an Internet forum)
[edit] See alsoFive Ws
Sentence function

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