Interrogative PronounsWe use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about).There are four main interrogative pronouns:who,whom,what,whichNotice that thepossessive pronounwhosecan also be an interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun).subjectobject

personwhowhom

thingwhat

person/ thingwhich

personwhose

Notice thatwhomis the correct form when the pronoun is the object of the verb, as in "Whomdid you see?" ("I sawJohn.") However, in normal, spoken English we rarely usewhom. Most native speakers would say (or even write): "Whodid you see?"Look at these example questions. In the sample answers, the noun phrase that the interrogative pronoun represents is shownin bold.questionanswer

Whotold you?Johntold me.subject

Whomdid you tell?I toldMary.object

What's happened?An accident's happened.subject

Whatdo you want?I wantcoffee.object

Whichcame first?The Porsche 911came first.subject

Whichwill the doctor see first?The doctor will seethe patient in bluefirst.object

There's one car missing.Whosehasn't arrived?John's (car)hasn't arrived.subject

We've found everyone's keys.Whosedid you find?I foundJohn's (keys).object

Note that we sometimes use the suffix "-ever" to make compounds from some of these pronouns (mainlywhoever,whatever,whichever). When we add "-ever", we use it for emphasis, often to show confusion or surprise. Look at these examples: Whoeverwould want to do such a nasty thing? Whateverdid he say to make her cry like that? They're all fantastic!Whicheverwill you choose?