Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns are question words which stand in for the answers to the questions.

The questions words are who? whom? whose? what? and which? They refer to people and things just as when they are used as relative pronouns.


Use "who" and "whom" in the proper case

"Who" is used for subjects and subject complements while "whom" is used for objects.

To choose the correct interrogative pronoun, you must mentally answer the question and check if you use a personal pronoun in the subjective case or the objective case. The correct interrogative pronoun is in the same case.

Example: (Who, Whom) left the door open?

Check: (He, she, they) left the door open NOT (him, her, them) left the door open.

Since the answer requires the subjective case then the correct interrogative pronoun must be "who".

Who Whom left the door open?

In spoken English or informal written English, "who" is often used in questions even when it functions as an object.

However, we will use the correct form:

Whom Who did you arrest?

Check: I arrested (him, her, them) NOT I arrested (he, she, they).
Interrogative Pronouns Quiz