ESL Inventory

Question Words: Examples & Exercises

Here are the most common question words, do you know them all?

Infographic showing English question words, also known as interrogative determiners. Questions words are: what, where, why, which, whose, who, when, how.
Download PNG
Download PDF

Let’s have a quick test:

EXERCISE: Choose the correct question word

Choose the correct answer to fill the gaps.

1 / 10

______ are you so happy today?

2 / 10

______ is your birthday?

3 / 10

______ is your best friend in school?

4 / 10

______ is your teacher’s name?

5 / 10

______ is knocking at the door?

6 / 10

______ is your favorite subject in school?

7 / 10

______ do you usually have lunch? At home or at work?

8 / 10

______ color do you prefer? Blue or green?

9 / 10

______ are you going on holiday this summer? USA or Europe?

10 / 10

______ are my keys? I can’t find them!

Your score is

0%

By Wordpress Quiz plugin

Was this too hard? Study the article and do the exercises below:

Question words help us ask for information. They include words that ask about people, places, things, reasons, times, ways, and choices. These words usually start a question. They help us find out more details and are very important in conversations.

Question Words Table

Question WordUseExample
WhatInformation about something.What is your name?
WhereA place or location.Where do you live?
WhenTime or a specific moment.When is your birthday?
WhyA reason or cause.Why are you tired?
HowThe way something is done or the condition of something.How are you?
How do you get to work?
WhoA person or many people.Who is your best friend?
WhichA specific choice among a group.Which movie do you want to watch?
WhoseOwnership or possession.Whose book is this?

These words are not only used for question, but also for relative clauses, click here to study more about it.

Exercises on Question Words

EXERCISE: Choose the correct question word (round 2)

Choose the correct answer to fill the gaps.

1 / 10

______ is the next holiday in your country?

2 / 10

______ is helping you with the homework?

3 / 10

______ is the capital of your country?

4 / 10

______ jacket is lying on the chair?

5 / 10

______ is she crying in the classroom?

6 / 10

______ are you coming to the party? By car or by taxi?

7 / 10

______ do you spell your last name?

8 / 10

______ bag is this? It’s not mine.

9 / 10

______ do you prefer, tea or coffee?

10 / 10

______ is your sister so upset?

Your score is

0%

By Wordpress Quiz plugin

EXERCISE: Write the correct question word

Write the correct question word – what, where, who, when, whose, why, how – to fill the gaps. Pay attention to the hints!

1 / 10

are you so happy?

Hint: we want to know the reason.

2 / 10

do you like your coffee?

Hint: we want to know the way you like to drink.

3 / 10

is your birthday?

Hint: we want to know the date.

4 / 10

is your favorite dress? The red one or the blue one?

5 / 10

is knocking on the door?

6 / 10

are you going?

Hint: we want to know the place.

7 / 10

did you call last night?

Hint: we want to know the person.

8 / 10

do I have to do?

9 / 10

phone is this?

Hint: we want to know the owner.

10 / 10

do you want to eat for lunch?

Your score is

0%

By Wordpress Quiz plugin

EnglischHilfen1 | EnglischHilfen2 | English4u | AgendaWeb1 | AgendaWeb2 | AgendaWeb3 | AgendaWeb4 | AgendaWeb5 | GamesToLearn | EslLounge | BritishCouncil | MontseMorales | SpeakSpeak | LearnEnglish | LearnEnglishFeelGood | GrammarBank

Exercises with ‘whose’ + others: EnglishPages | Engblocks | LiveWorksheets | English4u | GrammarBank1 | GrammarBank2 | EnglishExercises | Wordwall | EnglischHilfen

Questions with How

The question word “how” can be combined with other words to create more specific questions, here are some examples:

Infographic showing question words with “how” in English, including how much (quantity and amount), how many (number of items), how often (frequency), how long (duration), how far (distance), how old (age), how come (reason), and how about (suggestion). Visual ESL grammar chart with definitions and example questions such as “How much does it cost?”, “How often do you do sports?”, and “How come you forgot her birthday?”, designed to help English learners understand how-questions structure and usage. More on ESL-inventory.com
Download PNG
Download PDF
QuestionMeaningExample
How muchquantity / priceHow much is this?
How manynumberHow many students are there?
How oftenfrequencyHow often do you exercise?
How longdurationHow long is the movie?
How fardistanceHow far is the station?
How oldageHow old are you?
How comereasonHow come you are late?
How aboutsuggestionHow about pizza tonight?

The difference between how much and how many can be confusing, we use ‘much’ for uncountable nouns and ‘many’ for countable nouns. Click here to understand more.

Questions with How exercises

Exercises with ‘how’ questions: ToLearnEnglish1 | ToLearnEnglish2 | UsingEnglish | EnglischHilfen | OxfordUP | ExamEnglish

Exercises with ‘how’ and other questions: LiveWorksheets1 | LiveWorksheets2 | TestEnglish