Interrogative Adjective

What are adjectives? 

A word that can modify a noun or a pronoun is called an adjective. The aim of using an adjective in a sentence is to describe a noun or a pronoun. An adjective helps give more information about the noun or the pronoun used before. 

When you have a question like “What kind?” an adjective is the one that will help you solve it. Here are two examples of adjectives that provide more information about a noun or a pronoun: 

• Leah bought a car at the store. 
• Leah bought a new car at the store. 

When you look at the first sentence, it has no adjective, but there is one when you look at the second one. ‘New’. The second sentence gives the reader more information when compared to the first one. It tells us that Leah has bought a new car from the store. 

This article will help you learn and understand the interrogative adjectives definition and examples. Let’s start learning.

What is an interrogative adjective?

We often ask questions like, “Whose car is the best?” or “what is your favourite hobby?” to our friends. These are some of the most straightforward questions we can ask someone. We use adjectives while asking such questions. The kind of adjective that we use when asking someone these questions is interrogative adjectives. 

An example of an interrogative sentence is: “Which is your favourite dish?”

Here the word which refers to the noun ‘dish’ while asking the question. Thus, when you see the word ‘which’, you will immediately understand it is an adjective. 

Another example of an interrogative sentence is: “Anna has four ice creams. Which among those do you want? “ 

In this sentence, the word ‘which’ refers to the pronoun ‘ice cream’ while asking which ice cream they want. When you see the word ‘which’, you will immediately understand it is an adjective. 

List of interrogative adjectives

The list of interrogative adjectives is short and straightforward. There are only three interrogative adjectives, which are, 

1. What
2. Which 
3. Whose

Here are a few examples using these three interrogative adjectives:

• What is your new address?
• Which is the best way to go ahead?
• Whose car is that?

One thing you should remember about this list of interrogative adjectives is that there can be several ther contextual meanings of the words in this list. The words are not always used as interrogative adjectives. 

When you look at the interrogative adjectives examples above, you will notice one thing in common. The interrogative adjective is always used at the beginning of the sentence. However, sometimes the interrogative adjective can also be used in the middle of a sentence. This is mainly used while the inquiry is placed as a question tag. Eg: I have two pens, which one do you want?”

Interrogative adjectives examples

Here are a few examples of interrogative examples: 

Interrogative adjectives using what are:

• What time will you meet us?
• Could you help me figure out what dessert is Sheila’s favourite?
• What problems are you facing with your laptop?

Interrogative adjectives using which are:

• Which is your favourite movie?
• There are so many bags here. Which is Rita’s?
• Which dress should I wear to the party?

Interrogative adjectives using whose are:

• Whose lipstick was left on the table?
• Whose coat is this?
• Whose phone are you using right now?

Conclusion

Adjectives are an essential part of speech in English language. It’s necessary to learn and understand the different kinds of adjectives. One such kind of adjective is interrogative adjective. These are adjectives we use to ask questions in our daily lives. Interrogative adjectives are a form of adjectives we commonly see in quizzes.