WH Question Words
What are the WH question words?
In this lesson, you will learn question words in more detail to have a greater understanding of when and how they are used.
In the English language, there are “Yes/No” questions and “Wh-” questions.
Question words are also called “wh-” questions because these words include the letters ‘W’ and ‘H’.
Wh- questions start with what, when, where, who, whom, which, whose, why and how. You use them to ask for information. The answer cannot be yes or no for those questions.
☞ Where are you from? – Yes, I am. (wrong)
| Question Word | Function | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| what | asking for information about something | What is her name? |
| asking for repetition or confirmation | -What? I can’t understand you. -He did what? |
|
| what…for | asking for a reason, asking why | What did you do that for? |
| when | asking about time | When did she come? |
| where | asking in or at what place or position | Where do you live? |
| which | asking about choice | Which book do you want? |
| who | asking what or which person or people (subject) | Who opened the window? |
| whom | asking what or which person or people (object) | Whom did you call? |
| whose | asking about ownership | -Whose are these shoes? -Whose turn is it? |
| why | asking for reason, asking what…for | Why do you talk like this? |
| why don’t | making a suggestion | Why don’t you help me? |
| how | asking about manner | How does it work? |
| asking about condition or quality | How was your exam? |
We use question words to ask certain types of questions (question word questions).
We often refer to these words as WH words because they include the letters WH (for example WHy, HoW).
I know you know the basics, but questions are quite tricky. Let’s just go over the main rules.
We usually form questions by putting an auxiliary verb, or a modal verb, before the subject.
Does it suit me?
Has Mum called?
Can you get the tea?
Shall I pass you to Oliver?
When the verb ‘to be’ is the main verb, we don’t use auxiliary verbs.
Is Oliver there?
Was it good?
We can add question words to get more or different information.
Where did you go swimming? > In the swimming pool in town.
Why did you go there? > Because it’s a nice, big pool.
Who did you go swimming with? > With Amy.
What time did you meet Amy? > At 10 o’clock.
Which pool did you go in? > The serious one, without the slides!
How did you get there? > On the bus.
| Question words question question | ||
| Question word | Asking for / about | Example |
| What? | information, type what’s | What’s your name? What is an oak – a tree or a plant? |
| When? | time, day, year, etc. | When were you born? When are you coming – today or tomorrow? |
| Why? | reason Why | Why are you so tired? Why don’t you go to bed? |
| Which? | choice | We fruit tea and gorn tea – which would you like? |
| Who? | a person, a name who | Who wrote War and Peace – was it Tolstoy? |
| How? | method, quality, and condition How | How do you travel to work – by car? How was the soup? How are you today? |
| Whose? | possession, owner whose | Whose is this pen? Is it yours? |
| Whom? (formal) | a person, name | Whom did you see? (formal, less common) Who did you see? (more common) |
It is very formal and is not often used in spoken English. Most native speakers use who:
- Whom did you see? [formal written, formal spoken English]
- Who did you see? [standard spoken English]
I see that questions sometimes finish with prepositions.
Yes, that’s very common.
Who were you out with?
What have you got that bag for?
What’s all that about?
Where are you calling from?
OK, that all seems straightforward.
Yes, but do you know about subject and object questions?
Sorry?
If who, what or which is the subject of the question, it comes before the verb and we don’t use do as an auxiliary.
Who went out for curry? (subject – who)
What happened? (subject – what)
Which looks better, this or that one? (subject – which)
Object questions follow the structure we looked at before.
Who did you go out for curry with? (subject – you; object – who)
Which restaurant does Oliver like most? (subject – Oliver; object – which)
What did they do after the restaurant? (subject – they; object – what)
I think I understand …
Here’s a little test for you, then. A cat killed a mouse and a dog killed the cat.
1 What killed the mouse?
2 What did the cat kill?
3 What killed the cat?
4 What did the dog kill?
OK, 1 the cat, 2 the mouse, 3 the dog, 4 the cat. Right?
Exactly! You’ve got it.
Any more tricky things about question words?
Well in reported speech or indirect questions, question words come in the middle of sentences. In these types of sentence, the word order does not change. We don’t put the verb to be before the subject or use an auxiliary to form a question, as in a normal question:
I asked her what she was doing at the weekend.
Do you know where the post office is?
Can you tell me how much it costs?
What are you doing at the weekend?
Where is the post office?
How much does it cost?
Hmm, why do you use indirect questions if they are more complicated?
Well, they are more polite, especially if you are talking to a stranger.
OK, I’ll remember to say: ‘Do you know where the post office is?’
Good. Can you make that even more polite?
How about: ‘Excuse me, could you tell me where the post office is, please?’
Fine! That’ll do. Do you really need a post office?!