Interrogative Adverbs

The interrogative adverbs why, where, how, & when are placed at the beginning of a question. These questions can be answered with a sentence or a prepositional phrase. After an interrogative adverb in a question, you must invert the subject and verb so that the verb comes first.

Examples

• Why are you so late? There was a lot of traffic.
• Where is my passport? In the drawer.
• How are you? I'm fine.
• When does the train arrive? At 11:15.

Uses of how

How can be used to form questions in four different ways. How can be used by itself to mean "in what way".

Examples

• How did you make this sauce?
• How do you start the car?
• How can I get to your house?

How can be used with adjectives to ask about the degree of an attribute.

Examples

• How tall are you?
• How old is your house?
• How angry is mother?

How can be used with much and many to ask about quantity. Much is used with uncountable nouns and many is used with countable nouns.

Examples

• How many people are coming to the party?
• How much flour do I need?
• How much are these tomatoes?

How can be used with other adverbs to ask about the frequency or degree of an action.

Examples

• How quickly can you read this?
• How often do you go to London?
• How loudly does your brother scream?