1 What, which and whose before a noun
These question words can be pronouns, without a noun after them.
What will be the best train?
There are lots of books here. Which do you want?
Whose was the idea?
They can also be determiners, coming before a noun.
What train will you catch? (You will catch a train.)
Which books do you want? (You want some
of the books.)
Whose idea was it? (It was someone's idea.)
Which can come before
one/ones or before an of-phrase.
Which ones do you
want? Which
ofthese postcards shall we
send to Angela?
2 The use of who, what and which
Who always refers to people. Which can refer to people or to something not human. What refers mostly to something not human, but it can refer to people when it comes before a noun.
Human
Who is your maths teacher?
Which teacher do you have?
What idiot wrote this?
Which supermarket is cheapest?
What book are you reading?
What do you do in the evenings?
Who is a pronoun and cannot come before a noun or before an of-phrase.
NOT Who teacher do you have? and NOT Who ofthe teachers do you have?
There is a difference in meaning between what and which.
What do you do in your spare time?
What sport do you play?
Which is the
best route? Which way do we go now?
We use what when there is an indefinite (and often large) number of
possible answers. We use which when
there is a definite (and often small) number of possible answers. What relates to the indefinite word a, and which to the definite word the.
What sport...? (a sport)
(Tennis, or golf, or football, or...)
Which way...?
(one of the ways)
(Right or left?)
The choice of what
or which depends on how the speaker
sees the number of possible answers. In some contexts either word is possible.
What newspaper/Which newspaper do you
read?
What parts/Which parts
ofFrance have you visited?
What size/Which size do you take?
NOTE
We can
use what to suggest that there are no
possible answers.
Why don't you invite a few
friends? ~ Whatfriends? I haven't
got any friends.
3. Who and whom
When who
is the object, we can use whom
instead.
Who/Whom did you invite?
Whom is formal and rather old-fashioned. Who is more common in everyday speech.
When who/whom is the object of a preposition, there are two possible
patterns. Who were you talking to?
To whom were you talking?
The pattern with whom is formal.
4. How
a How can express means or manner.
How do you open this bottle? (You open this bottle somehow.)
How did the children behave? (The children behaved well/badly.)
When it expresses degree, how can come before an adjective or adverb.
How wide is the river? (20 metres/30 metres wide?)
How soon can you let me know? (very soon/quite soon?)
We also
use how as an adjective or adverb in
friendly enquiries about someone's well-being, enjoyment or progress.
How are
you? ~ Fine, thanks.
How did you like the party?— Oh, it
was great.
How are you getting on at college? ~
Fine, thanks. I'm enjoying it.
NOTE
What... like? asks about quality. Sometimes it has a very similar meaning to How...?
How was the film?/ What was the
film like?
But What... like? does not
refer to well-being.
How's your brother? ~ Oh, he's
fine, thanks.
What's your brother like? ~ Well, he's much quieter than I
am.
What does your brother look like? ~
He's taller than me, and he's got dark hair.
5 A special pattern with why
Why (not)
can come before a noun phrase or a verb. Why the
panic? (= What is the reason for
the panic?)
Look at
our prices - why
pay more? (= Why should you pay more?)
Why not stayfor a while? (= Why don't you stay for a while?)
6 Modifying a question word
We can use an adverb to modify a question word or phrase. When exactly are you coming back?
Just what will tomorrow bring? About how many people live here?
Else has the meaning 'other'.
What else should I do? (= What other things ... ?)
Who else did you invite?(=What other people ... ?
c We
can emphasize the question by using on
earth.
What on
earth will tomorrow bring?
We can also use ever.
What
ever/Whatever can the matter be?
How ever/However
did you manage to find us?
Who
ever/Whoever invited that awful man?
This means that the speaker has
no idea what the answer is. The emphasis often expresses surprise. The speaker
is surprised that someone invited that awful man.
