{"id":6250,"date":"2022-10-12T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=6250"},"modified":"2022-10-06T16:38:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T21:38:16","slug":"interrogative-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/question-marks\/interrogative-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"Interrogative Sentences: Usage and Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"

The English language includes four types of sentences: declarative<\/a>, interrogative, exclamatory<\/a>, and imperative<\/a>. This discussion will focus on interrogative sentences.<\/p>\n

What Is an Interrogative Sentence?<\/h2>\n

A declarative sentence “declares” something (e.g., facts, thoughts, opinions), an exclamatory sentence imparts a strong expression or emotion, and an imperative sentence issues a command.<\/p>\n

An interrogative sentence asks a question. We use an interrogative sentence to request and receive information. It always includes a question mark (?).<\/p>\n

Interrogative sentences typically begin with interrogative (question) words such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
who\/whom<\/td>\nwhere<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
whose<\/td>\nwhich<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
what<\/td>\nwhy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
when<\/td>\nhow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Who<\/u> is the person by the mailbox?<\/p>\n

Whose<\/u> shoes are those?<\/p>\n

Why<\/u> won’t you give me your password?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’ll also note that interrogative words can function as different parts of speech in interrogative sentences:<\/p>\n

Who<\/u> [pronoun] is the person by the mailbox?<\/p>\n

Whose<\/u> [adjective] shoes are those?<\/p>\n

Why<\/u> [adverb] won’t you give me your password?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many interrogative sentences begin with auxiliary<\/a> words (helping verbs) as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
can<\/td>\nmust<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
could<\/td>\nshall<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
do<\/td>\nshould<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
may<\/td>\nwill<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
might<\/td>\nwould<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Can<\/u> you do<\/u> your homework today?<\/p>\n

Might<\/u> Shannon get<\/u> to meet the band backstage?<\/p>\n

Should<\/u> we tell<\/u> Jeffrey his choice of shirt is catastrophic?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note how interrogative sentences differ from the other types (declarative, exclamatory, imperative).<\/p>\n

Declarative:<\/strong> You can do your homework today.<\/p>\n

Exclamatory:<\/strong> You can do your homework today!<\/p>\n

Imperative:<\/strong> Do your homework today!<\/p>\n

Interrogative:<\/strong> Can you do your homework today?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As with declarative, exclamatory, and imperative sentences, interrogative sentences include a subject and a verb. Their difference often lies in their word order.<\/p>\n

Interrogative sentences frequently begin with the verb or helping verb before the subject or with an interrogative word followed by the verb or helping verb.<\/p>\n

Declarative:<\/strong> The homework<\/u> is<\/u> due today. (subject > verb)
\nInterrogative:<\/strong> Is<\/u> the homework<\/u> due today? (verb > subject)<\/p>\n

Exclamatory:<\/strong> You<\/u> won’t<\/u> give<\/u> me your password! (subject > helping verb > verb)
\nInterrogative: <\/strong>Why<\/u> won’t<\/u> you<\/u> give<\/u> me your password? (interrogative word > helping verb > subject > verb)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In some cases, you might make other sentence types interrogative simply by adding a question mark.<\/p>\n

Declarative:<\/strong> He wrote the song.
\nInterrogative:<\/strong> He wrote the song?<\/p>\n

Imperative:<\/strong> Do it today!
\nInterrogative:<\/strong> Do it today?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interrogative Sentence Examples: Direct vs. Indirect<\/h2>\n

So far, the examples we’ve been looking at have included direct questions, which are those that end with a question mark and can be answered.<\/p>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Whose shoes are those?<\/p>\n

Can you do your homework today?<\/p>\n

He wrote the song?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A question also can be indirect, meaning it is embedded in another sentence type. As such, it is not punctuated with a question mark.<\/p>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellie is wondering whose shoes those are.<\/p>\n

Your father asked if your homework is due today.<\/p>\n

I’d like to know how Shannon got to meet the band backstage!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can see how each sentence seeks information without asking directly for it. The same sentences would be incorrect if we added a question mark to them.<\/p>\n

Incorrect<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellie is wondering whose shoes those are?<\/p>\n

Your father asked if your homework is due today?<\/p>\n

I’d like to know how Shannon got to meet the band backstage?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some sentences may look like direct questions but are not. They are questions in form but other sentence types in content and tone.<\/p>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What I wouldn’t do to have those shoes! (exclamatory statement)<\/p>\n

Why don’t you do your homework today. (declarative suggestion)<\/p>\n

Would you just stop doing that. (softened imperative command)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interrogative Sentence Examples: Punctuation<\/h2>\n

If a question is within quotation marks, the question mark goes inside the quotation marks:<\/p>\n

Janie just said, “Will you walk with me to the forest?”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If quoted material is part of the question, the question mark goes outside of the quotation marks:<\/p>\n

Did you agree with Mr. Floros when he said, “Do your homework today”?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When there is a question both inside and outside quoted content, use only one question mark and place it inside the quotation mark:<\/p>\n

Did she just say, “Is it due today?”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’ll also note that a comma or a period does not appear after a question mark.<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/h3>\n

Question Marks<\/a>
\nQuestion Marks with Quotation Marks<\/a><\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Determine whether the following sentences are interrogative.<\/p>\n

1. Who will pick up Aniya from school? [Yes \/ No]<\/p>\n

2. What a week it has been. [Yes \/ No]<\/p>\n

3. Brandon asked if he can use the car tonight. [Yes \/ No]<\/p>\n

4. The class begins tomorrow? [Yes \/ No]<\/p>\n

5. Shall we dine at the winery too? [Yes \/ No]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. Who will pick up Aniya from school? Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. What a week it has been. No<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Brandon asked if he can use the car tonight. No<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. The class begins tomorrow? Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Shall we dine at the winery too? Yes<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The English language includes four types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative. This discussion will focus on interrogative sentences. What Is an Interrogative Sentence? A declarative sentence “declares” something (e.g., facts, thoughts, opinions), an exclamatory sentence imparts a strong expression or emotion, and an imperative sentence issues a command. An interrogative sentence asks a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clauses-sentences","category-question-marks"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6250"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6258,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250\/revisions\/6258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}