What are Interrogative Adjectives?

Interrogative Adjectives are used to describe a noun that is used in an interrogative sentence. It is also called Interrogative Determiners. It is one of the types of Adjectives.

In other words, it is used to describe a noun by asking a question. These adjectives are usually located before the noun in the sentence.

Some examples of Interrogative Adjectives are,

But mostly considered adjectives are of three. Those are which, what and whose.

Now, let us learn when we have to use Interrogative Adjective in a sentence.

Usage of Interrogative Adjectives

The adjectives what and which is often can be used reciprocally (interchangeably) depending on the situation and the adjective (whose) is quite different from these two.

1) What

The adjective (what) is used in the question when the options (guess or answers) are unlimited or not known.

For example: What cars do you like the most?

2) Which

The adjective (which) is used in the question when the options (guess or answers) are limited.

For example: Which bike did you like the most?

Difference between What and Which

1) Let us understand the difference with a common example.

In the first example, we can observe that the person doesn’t have any idea or guess about the present because it can be anything (unlimited possibilities). So, for this kind of situation, the adjective (what) is used.

But, in the second example, the person can guess and may have an idea about the present because it is limited. So, for this kind of situation, the adjective (which) is used.

2) Let us consider another similar example.

In the first sentence, “what” is used for many options (unlimited) – it can be any type of dress (asking in general).

In the second example, “which” is used for limited options – it can be from the specific dresses (asking in specific).

3) Another similar example is given below to understand this concept well.

Here, in the first example, the person won’t know what help he does and it can be any type of help and in the second example, the person is aware that he/she is offering help from what they know (expect).

3) Whose

The adjective (whose) is used in the question to determine the ownership of the thing (belongings), etc.

For example: May I know whose painting is this?

Also Read: What is Adjective with examples? | Best English Guide 2021

The adjective is a type of word which describes or modifies the noun. It is also defined as, the word which describes the qualities and states of beings of nouns. It measures the qualities like size, shape, colour, duration, behaviour, quantity, etc… (Read More)

Interrogative Adjective Examples

Below are a few easy examples given for each adjective.

Sentence Structure: What (IA) + song (Subject) + do (Verb) + you want to listen to (Object)?

Here, the adjective (what) is used to ask from the unlimited choices of songs. This adjective is used before the noun (song).

Sentence Structure: Which (IA) + book (Subject) + do you recommend (Verb) + for spirituality? (Object)

In the above example, the adjective “which” is used to ask from the limited choices of books. The noun mentioned here is “book”.

Sentence Structure: Whose (IA) + hat (Subject) + is (Verb) + this? (Object)

Here, the adjective (whose) is used to ask the belonging (owner) of the hat.

Interrogative Adjective in Indirect Questions

Till now we have considered direct questions as examples for Interrogative Adjectives, but it is also possible to use these adjectives in Indirect Questions too.

Let us look at few examples.

A common mistake while using Interrogative Adjectives

Mistake 1: People often make mistakes while using “who’s” instead of “whose”. Who’s is the short abbreviation for “who is” and whose is used for determining the ownership of a thing, etc. So, both are different from each other.

Let us take an example.

More Interrogative Adjectives Examples

Here are some more examples that you can refer to.

Summary: (What are Interrogative Adjectives?)

What are Interrogative Adjectives?

Here, is the summary of what we had learnt till now.

If you are interested to learn more, then you can refer to Wikipedia here.

I hope that you understood the topic. If you still have any doubts, then comment down below and we will respond as soon as possible.

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