Interrogatives are question words (who, whom, whose, what, which, when, where, why, and how), which introduce questions. They can be divided into four types, depending on the part of speech they are in the question:
- Interrogative pronoun
- Interrogative determiner
- Interrogative adverb
- Interrogative adjective
This post covers third in the above list: interrogative adverb.
What are interrogative adverbs?
Interrogative adverbs introduce questions (direct or indirect) on time, place, reason, manner, degree, frequency, quantity, and duration. Common interrogative adverbs, along with the type of questions they ask, are:
- when (time),
- where (place),
- why (reason), and
- how (manner, degree, frequency, quantity, and duration).
In simple terms, interrogative adverb = interrogative + adverb. Whereas interrogative tells its questioning ability, adverb tells what part of speech it is in a sentence.
The answer to the question that interrogative adverbs ask is an adverbial.
Let’s consider each interrogative adverb.
1.1. When
When, also known as interrogative adverb of time, asks questions about time. Examples:
When did megalodon go extinct? [Direct question]
When megalodon went extinct is hotly debated. [Indirect question]
When does earliest life on earth date back to? [Direct question]
I don’t remember when the assignment is due. [Indirect question]
1.2. Where
Where, also known as interrogative adverb of place, asks questions about place. Examples:
Where are we meeting for coffee? [Direct question]
I was wondering where we are meeting for coffee. [Indirect question]
Where is the evidence for life on Mars? [Direct question]
A fast-growing market has its own problems, but that’s where you grow fast in career. [Indirect question]
1.3. Why
Why, also known as interrogative adverb or reason, asks questions about reason. Examples:
Why is it important to address climate change now? [Direct question]
Could you explain why it is important to address climate change now? [Indirect question]
Why does earth have one moon when other planets have many? [Direct question]
When I asked my neighbour why he comes early from office on some days, he, in a wishy-washy tone, said that on such occasions he finishes his work early.
[Indirect question. Note that When is a subordinating conjunction introducing the adverb clause When I asked… some days, which contains our indirect question.]
1.4. How
How is quite multifaceted. It can function as:
Interrogative adverb of manner: It asks questions about the way something happens or is done.
How does YouTube make money? [Direct question]
Do you know how YouTube makes money? [Indirect question]
How did you pull off such a difficult feat? [Direct question]
This proverb tells how you can perform a task efficiently. [Indirect question]
Interrogative adverb of degree or extent: It asks questions about the intensity or degree of something.
How severe is the storm? [Direct question]
The met department hasn’t yet forecasted how severe the storm is going to be. [Indirect question]
How hot is molten lava? [Direct question]
Interrogative adverb of frequency: It asks questions about how often something happens.
How often do you exercise? [Direct question]
I’m curious to know how often you exercise. [Indirect question]
How frequently has this error occurred in the past month? [Direct question]
Interrogative adverb of quantity: It asks questions about amount or number, often with quantifying expressions such as many or much.
How many people attended the event? [Direct question]
Do you know how many people attended the event? [Indirect question]
How much time did you spend preparing for the presentation? [Direct question]
Interrogative adverb of duration: It asks questions about the time something lasts.
How long will it take for the new system to be fully operational? [Direct question]
I’m wondering how long it will take for the new system to be fully operational. [Indirect question]
But not all hows are interrogative adverb. In the sentence How are you feeling today, it is interrogative adjective. You can know this by turning the above question into a statement: I’m feeling fine. How has been replaced by adjective fine, and not by an adverbial as is the case with answers in earlier five hows. You’ll find more on this in the post on interrogative adjective linked to at the beginning of the post.
2. These too are interrogative adverbs
Whenever and wherever can be used in place of when and where, respectively, to add emphasis – and sometimes surprise. In such use, whenever and wherever are interrogative adverbs. Examples:
Whenever did megalodon go extinct?
Wherever are we meeting for coffee?
This though works only for direct questions. Dependent clause introduced by whenever and wherever are not interrogative.
3. These are not interrogative adverbs
We saw that when, where, why, and how are interrogative adverbs. But the same words can be relative adverb, subordinating conjunction, or exclamative determiner. So, when you see these four words next time, don’t jump to the conclusion that they’re interrogative adverbs.
Let’s compare interrogative adverb with each.
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3.1. Interrogative adverb vs. relative adverb
Words when, where, and why can be interrogative adverb as well as relative adverb.
When does the flight arrive? [Interrogative adverb in a direct question]
There have been times when I had no work for months. [Relative adverb]
Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. [Interrogative adverb in an indirect question]
Who can forget scandals at Enron and Satyam Computers, where dishonest leaders sank the company? [Relative adverb]
Why haven’t you given the work to your new employee as per his job description? [Interrogative adverb in a direct question]
The management doesn’t know the reason why the contract hasn’t been renewed. [Relative adverb]
How can you tell the two apart?
Relative adverbs introduce relative clause, and in doing so they refer to a noun phrase that comes immediately before it. They don’t ask questions; they merely add information to the preceding noun phrase. In contrast, an interrogative adverb asks a question, which may be direct or indirect.
If you look at the examples we just saw, you’ll find noun phrases times, Enron and Satyam Computers, and the reason immediately before relative adverbs, but nothing of that sort before interrogative adverbs.
3.2. Interrogative adverb vs. subordinating conjunction
Words when and where can be interrogative adverb as well as subordinating conjunction, confusing some.
You never know when an unexpected need might arise. [Interrogative adverb in an indirect question]
It is difficult to twist a twig when it grows hard. [Subordinating conjunction]
Where you end up in life is largely decided by few decisions and work to follow them up. [Interrogative adverb in an indirect question]
Where ignorance is bliss, it’s a folly to be wise. [Subordinating conjunction]
How can you tell the two apart?
Subordinating conjunctions when and where introduce adverb clause, a fact that can be used to tell subordinating conjunctions apart from interrogative adverbs in few ways. The easiest way though is to use mobility of adverb clause. If you can move the clause to front or back without distorting the sentence, you’ve an adverb clause, implying the word under consideration is a subordinating conjunction. When you try this test with the above four sentences, only second and fourth make sense.
When a twig grows hard, it is difficult to twist it. [When the clause is shifted to front, the sentence isn’t awkward, implying when is a subordinating conjunction.]
It’s a folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss. [When shifted to back, the sentence isn’t awkward, implying where is a subordinating conjunction.]
3.3. Interrogative adverb vs. Exclamative adverb
How can be interrogative adverb as well as exclamative adverb.
How amazing is the view from the top of the mountain? [Interrogative adverb in direct question]
How amazing the view is from the top of the mountain! [Exclamative adverb]
How can you tell the two apart?
An exclamative sentence expresses strong emotion or opinion. It doesn’t ask a question. (Note the exclamation sign.) An interrogative sentence though asks a question. The answer to the above question, for example, could be very or not at all.
4. These too are not interrogative adverbs
(If you’re not an advanced learner, you can skip this section.)
What’s the interrogative adverb in the underlined dependent clause?
That’s where the meeting will be held.
None!
Even though where is one of the four (when, where, why, and how) and is an adverb, it’s not an interrogative adverb because the clause is not interrogative. It’s a declarative clause called nominal relative clause. Where the meeting will be held can be paraphrased as The place where the meeting will be held. In other words, where is merely referring to something – and not asking question.
The word where is an adverb, but not interrogative adverb. It’s nominal relative adverb.
In this post, we saw that wh-words such as when, where, why, and how function as interrogative adverb. They can, however, function as non-interrogative adverb as well, an example being relative adverb, whose examples we covered in this post. Wh-words that function as adverb, whether interrogative or not, are called wh-adverbs. In other words, interrogative adverbs are a subset of wh-adverbs.