There are many different ways to ask questions in English, and though not all questions require traditional interrogative parts of speech (pronouns and adverbs), they are still interrogative sentences. To briefly recap, an interrogative sentence is simply a question.
In fact, many of the most common questions use auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, or “to be” verbs. You don’t have to use interrogative pronouns or adverbs at all. It’s important to note that there are many different ways to ask questions in English. Interrogative adverbs are always immediately followed by the main verb. Rather than asking about specific people or things (subjects and objects), adverbial phrases often ask about actions (verbs). When will we arrive at the train station?.When – Refers to the time that an action or event takes place.How – Refers to the way in which an action is done or by what means it can be accomplished.Where – Refers to the location of something.Why didn’t you check the tire pressure before we left?.Why – Refers to the reason for an action or occurrence.Some of the most common question words are interrogative adverbs. There are also many question words that are not pronouns. It’s important to note that interrogative pronouns are not a requirement when forming interrogative sentences. Whose – Refers to ownership of a thing by a person.Whom – Refers to a person who is the object of the question.
Who – Refers to a person who is the subject of the question.When a question begins with a pronoun, these parts of speech are known as interrogative pronouns. You might have noticed that some of the example questions above started with a pronoun. Interrogative Sentence (Question) Main Verbĭeclarative Sentence (Answer) Adverbial Clause Interrogative Sentence (Question) Pronoun However, when you ask a question, the subject and verb are usually reversed so that the primary verb appears before the subject. When making a declarative statement, the subject usually appears before the main verb. To answer this question, you could say something like this: SubjectĪs you can see, a standard declarative statement can answer the question above. Now, let’s examine some different examples of interrogative sentences: Pronoun Exclamatory Sentence – A sentence that makes a statement with emotional emphasis (it always ends with an exclamation point).Interrogative Sentence – A sentence that asks a question.Imperative Sentence – A sentence that issues a directive (demand, request, advice, invitation, or instruction).Declarative Sentence – A sentence that makes a statement or offers an opinion.There are four basic sentence types in English: To better understand interrogative sentences in relation to other sentence types, let’s take a closer look at how interrogative sentences compare to declarative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in English. In other words, the predicate (verb) often comes before the subject. Interrogative sentences are usually distinguished from other types of sentences with an inverted structure. So, let’s get started! Interrogative Sentence DefinitionĪn interrogative sentence asks a question. In today’s guide, we will define interrogative sentences, explain their function, and expand on the role of interrogative pronouns. While the latter usually requires declarative sentences or statements, the former requires interrogative sentences. To exchange information, we often need to ask and answer questions. Exchanging information is one of the main reasons people use the English language (or any language for that matter).