interrogative sentences

Language

2022

We explain what interrogative sentences are, their types and examples. Also, what are interrogative pronouns and adverbs.

Pronouns and adverbs allow you to formulate interrogative sentences.

What are interrogative sentences?

In grammar, interrogative sentences are used to request information from the receiver, or to make suggestions in a softer or more disguised way.

Said in simpler terms, they are those that serve to ask. However, they are not necessarily questions, since they may or may not be formulated in a clearly interrogative tone, or they may or may not be written using question marks (?).

Interrogative sentences, in some languages ​​such as Spanish, are formulated through rearrangement syntactic of the prayer, which starts with a pronoun or adverb interrogative. Also, on the tongue spoken, are formulated with a characteristic tone, which distinguishes them from affirmations and other speeches of different purpose.

Types of interrogative sentences

Interrogative sentences are classified in two possible ways:

Direct and indirect. Depending on the syntactic value of the interrogative sentence (that is, if it is the main sentence or if it is a subordinate one), we can classify them separately, as follows:

  • Direct questions. Those that are also main sentences, and therefore always go between question marks (which necessarily consist of two: the one that opens "¿" and the one that closes "?"). It can be said that this type of questioning makes manifest the desire to obtain an answer from the interlocutor. For example: "What are you doing today?", "Who is your singing teacher?"
  • Indirect questions. In this case, the interrogative sentences are subordinate to a main sentence of another type, and are not usually accompanied by question marks, since their approach to the question is less frontal. This means that they serve to refer to what was asked by third parties, or to give an account of what was asked in a story. For example: "Pedro asked me if I had a girlfriend", "I want to know when you will visit me again."

Total and partial. A second distinction of interrogative sentences is fixed in the way of requesting information from the interlocutor: if it allows yes / no answers, or if it requires an elaborate answer. Thus, we can talk about:

  • Total questions. Those that admit a specific answer, in the range of "yes" or "no" possibilities. For example: "Have you ever read Shakespeare?", "Do you still love me?"
  • Partial questions. On the contrary, these questions ask the interlocutor for a more open and generally longer answer. For example: "Who said to do it this way?", "Why are you dressed that way?"

Examples of interrogative sentences

Here are some examples of interrogative sentences of different types:

  • Who was that?
  • Why do you act like that?
  • Could it be that it rains today too?
  • What's your name?
  • Where are we going in such a hurry?
  • Do you have a pen to lend me?
  • Have you ever been to Switzerland?
  • Is that your father over there?
  • Are there no more moors on the coast?
  • The watchman asked me who you were.
  • My mother wants to know what you would like for dinner.
  • They still don't know why we are here.
  • We want to know when we will arrive.

Interrogative pronouns and adverbs

Interrogative sentences are usually accompanied or introduced by interrogative pronouns, which are grammatical particles capable of replacing a specific referent, and referring to it within the question.

These pronouns are: what, who/Who is it, which one/which, how many/how much/many/how many, and substitute for a noun, noun or pronoun in the interrogative sentence. For example:

- I have money.
- How much do you have?

(How many replaces money).

Similarly, there are interrogative adverbs, whose role is to complement the verb of the interrogative sentence, and they are easy to recognize because they always carry the accent, even in indirect questions. These adverbs are: what, who, where, when, What, why, where to, for what. For example:

"How much does the entrance to the park cost?"

Exclamation sentences

The exclamatory sentences are intended to express a subjective content on the part of the interlocutor, that is, to express a feeling, an emotion or an opinion. They are usually written between exclamation marks (!).

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