Interrogative pronouns ask questions and can also function as noun substitutes. English has five: who, whom, of whom, what, and which. They refer to unknown antecedents and are never found in a linguistic stream other than a question. Whose is also possessive. Interrogative words are often confused with interrogative pronouns, but only who and what are also interrogative pronouns.
Interrogative pronouns are words that have been given two jobs. Primarily, they are used to ask questions. Secondly, interrogative pronouns also function as noun substitutes or noun phrases. There are five interrogative pronouns in English: who, who, who, what, and which.
In most cases, a pronoun refers to an object or person that has already been named. That person or thing is called the antecedent. It is interesting to note that although the words who, who, of whom, what and che are pronouns, they do not refer to a known antecedent but to an unknown one for the simple reason that the question is asked to determine who or what it is that antecedent.
For example, in the question “What do you want for dinner?” the interrogative pronoun is used to ask about what is not known: the interviewee’s dinner preference. The antecedent is assumed rather than stated; it is whatever food choice the respondent makes. Perhaps the answer is “pizza,” in which case that clarifies the antecedent.
The question “Who was at the door?” contains the question who. The speaker knows something nonspecific: that someone was at the door. It is only when he answers the question that the antecedent is provided. The answer can be very specific, like the person’s name, a little less specific, like a category like seller, or non-specific like the question, like nobody.
Whose is the only interrogative pronoun that is also possessive. Asks about a known object that belongs to an unknown antecedent. “Whose dog is that?” he recognizes that there is a dog that belongs to someone; it is only when that person is named that the antecedent becomes clear.
The interrogative pronouns who, whom, of whom, what and which are never found in a linguistic stream other than a question. This does not mean that these words are not used in other contexts – they certainly are – but in these cases they have a different grammatical function. They become relative pronouns used to illuminate an adjective clause. For example, in the statement “A doctor is someone who heals the sick,” which introduces the descriptive phrase “heals the sick” and is therefore not an interrogative pronoun.
People often confuse interrogative pronouns with interrogative words. Young people learn in elementary school that they should use the words who, what, when, where, why, and how to ask questions. Of these, only who and what are also interrogative pronouns. The other words are used not to designate a stranger who is a specific name, but rather a stranger who names time, place, reason, or manner.
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