Practice Makes Perfect

Other interrogatives act as adverbs: how, when, where, and why. Some examples:

Question Possible Answer

How did he walk? slowly

When was the party? on Tuesday

Where are you going? to the store

Why are you limping? because my foot hurts

There are also some commonly used phrases that are a combination of what, which, and howand

other words. Questions are formed with them like with other interrogatives:

what brand of, what kind of, what sort of, what about

which one, which way, which part of, which of you

how much, how many, how often, how about

Of course, these are not the only such combinations. They are examples. You will discover oth-

ers that are formed similarly. Some example sentences:

What kind of dress do you want to buy?

What about your brother?

Which one is for me?

Which of you will help me?

Interrogative words can be used as conjunctions to combine two clauses. You encountered some

of them in Unit 21 on conjunctions. But be careful! The sentence formed by using an interroga-

tive as a conjunction is not necessarily a question when combined with another clause. It

depends upon whether you are asking a question or making a statement:

Question Statement

Do you know who he is? Jill told me who he is.

Does she understand how it works? I can’t explain how it works.

Who told you where it was? They couldn’t discover where it was.

Can you tell me what kind of car this is? I don’t know what kind of car this is.

Notice the change in word order between a direct question and an interrogative clause com-

bined with another clause. In direct questions the verb precedes the subject. In an interrogative

clause the verb follows the subject.

Who arethese people? She asked me who these people are.

When didthey arrive? I don’t know when they arrived.

How far canhe swim? They ask how far he can swim.

Interrogatives 111

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