Questions?

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronoun who…it’s a matter of case?

• The pronoun Who

The pronoun who usually refers only to persons. Unlike the other interrogative pronouns,

who changes its form depending on the case, as shown in the following table.• Subjective Case: who• Objective Case: whom• Possessive Case: whose

Who or whom?

• Choose the correct form of who based on the function of the word in the sentence.

Who…subjective case Whom…objective case

To (who, whom) does the keychain belong?

To is a preposition; the noun or pronoun that ends a prepositional phrase is called the object of the preposition. Hence, you must use the objective case. The objective case is whom.

To whom does the keychain belong?

Who or whom?

• (Who or Whom) is your best friend?

• Think…locate the subject and verb to find your answer.

The subject of the sentence is who, the verb is – is, and the predicate nominative is friend.

Your best friend is who? (friend=subject; is=verb; who=predicate nominative)

Who is your best friend?

Who or Whom?

•You gave (whom or who) my car?

• (You=subject; gave=verb; car=direct object; what is the indirect object?)

And the answer is…

•You gave whom my car?

Interrogative pronoun whose

•Whose The form whose can be used either as a possessive adjective followed by a noun, or as a possessive pronoun.

The possessive form whose expresses the idea of belonging to. For instance, the idea expressed in the sentence: Whose books are these? could also be expressed by the sentence: To whom do these books belong?

Interrogative Whose or Who’s (who is)?

• (Whose or who’s) will win the award at the fair?

• Should this read “Who is will win the award at the fair?” Or “Whose will win the award at the fair?”

• Whose…of course!

Who’s or Whose

•This pencil is (whose, who’s)?

And the answer is…

•This pencil is whose?

Interrogative pronouns what and which

•What and Which What and which can be used either as interrogative pronouns, or as interrogative adjectives followed by nouns.e.g. What is that?      Which is his sister?      What time is it?      Which woman is his sister?

Interrogative pronoun or adjective?

• Which cell phone company has the best plan?

• Interrogative pronoun or interrogative adjective?

And the answer is…

•Which cell phone company has the best plan?

• Interrogative pronoun or interrogative adjective?• Which modifies cell phone company.

Interrogative adjective or pronoun?

•Which is your puppy?

• Interrogative pronoun or interrogative adjective?

And the answer is…

•Which is your puppy?

• Interrogative pronoun or interrogative adjective?