- What when you are asking for information about something.
- When to ask about the time that something happened or will happen.
- Where to ask questions about place or position.
- Which when you are asking for information about one of a limited number of things.
- Who or whom when you are asking about someone's identity.
- Whose to ask about possession.
- Why to ask for a reason.
- How to ask about the way in which something is done.
| Question word | Verb | + | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| What | is | your name? | My name is Lynne. |
| When | is | the party? | The party is on Tuesday. |
| Where | are | you from? | I'm from England. |
| Which | is | your car? | The red car is mine. |
| Who | are | you? | I'm Lynne. |
| Whose | is | this web site? | It's mine. |
| Why | is | this web site here? | Because it is! |
| How | are | you? | I'm fine thanks. |
What, which and whose can be used with or without a noun as a question word.
For example:-
What time is it? = What is the time?
Which car is yours? = Which is your car?
Whose web site is this? = Whose is this web site?
Whom can only be used to elicit information about the object of the sentence. Although using whom would be grammatically correct, we normally use who instead because it doesn’t sound so formal.
For example:-
"Whom did you see?" would normally be expressed as "Who did you see?"
Who, what, which and whose can all be used to elicit information about the subject or object of the sentence.
For example:-
If the answer is "I ate the banana." the object question would be "What did you eat?" and the subject question would be "Who ate the banana?"
