Special questions

Special (pronominal) questions open with an interrogative pronoun or a pronominal adverb, the function of which is to get more detailed and exact information about some event or phenomenon known to the speaker and listener.

The interrogative pronouns and adverbs which function as question words are as follows: what, which, who, whom, whose, where, when, why, how and the archaic whence (= where from), whither (= where, where to), wherefore (= what for, why).

Adverbial phrases such as how long, how often may also function as question words. Question words may have various syntactical functions in the sentence, depending upon the information the speaker wants to obtain:

1. Who came first? (subject) - I did.

2. What makes you think so? (subject) - Your behaviour.

3. Whose team has won the match? (attribute) - Ours.

4. Which story did you like best? (attribute) - The last.

5. Who is that man? (predicative) - He is my brother.

6. What are you doing there? (object) - Nothing.

7. When are you going to come back? (adverbial of time) - Tomorrow.

8. How can I get to your place? (adverbial of manner) - By bus.

As can be seen from the above examples, word order in a special question is characterized by inversion of the operator and the subject. Inversion does not take place when the question word is the subject or an attribute to the subject (see examples 1, 2, 3).

A question word may be preceded by a preposition.

On what resolution do you insist?

In colloquial English it is preferable to shift the preposition to the end of the question.

What are you laughing at? What did you argue about?

In colloquial English the pronoun who is used as a question word functioning either as subject or object.

Who has done it? Who do you see there?

The tone of pronominal questions is usually a falling one.

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Alternative questions	\|	Imperative sentences

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