Word.ws English Dictionary

wh-question

Syllables: wh-quest·ion/ˈdʌbl̩juː eɪtʃ ˈkwɛst͡ʃən/US/dʌbl̩juː ˈeɪtʃ ˌkwɛst͡ʃən/

wh-question noun: a question that is introduced by a wh-word (what, where, why, etc.) and cannot be answered by yes or no.

Noun (1)

wh-question (plural wh-questions)

  1. A question that is introduced by a wh-word (what, where, why, etc.) and cannot be answered by yes or no.
    • In general each kind of Wh question calls for an answer which is an instance of a particular major sentence constituent.1968 April, Roger Brown, “The Development of Wh Questions in Child Speech”, in Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, volume 7, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Academic Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC...
    • To answer a wh-question, a person usually examines the items described by the <+WH> noun phrase and tests the truth of the sentence for each item.1970 July 22, Sara Regina Murphy, “Relative Clauses and Wh-questions”, in Semantic Interpretation of Deep Structure for Natural-language Computer Input (AFCRL; 70-526; Special Reports no. 104)...

Noun (2) capitalized: WH-question

WH-question (plural WH-questions)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of wh-question.
    • Note that one cannot describe such basic processes as yes–no question and WH-question formation, negation, or the use of emphatic particles in Sinhala without involving focusing, [...]1985, James W. Gair, “Focused Sentences: Naturalization of a Calque”, in Barbara C. Lust, editor, Studies in South Asian Linguistics: Sinhala and Other South Asian Languages, New York, N.Y.: Oxford...
    • In the preceding chapters, I have tentatively adopted an analysis for yes-no and WH-questions (aside from multiple WH-questions, as in (1b′), which have not been taken up yet) on the following lines: [...] [T]he S of that structure has the same form as the deep structure of a corresponding...1988, James D[avid] McCawley, “Interrogative Clauses”, in The Syntactic Phenomena of English, volume 2, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 464

Examples of wh-question in a sentence

  • The necessity to be able to answer a wh-question is thus a criterion distinguishing obligatory and optional modifications.1980, Petr Piťha, “Case Frames of Nouns”, in D. J. van Alkemade et al., editors, Linguistic Studies Offered to Berthe Siertsema, Amsterdam...
  • The language focus of our lesson were the wh-questions.2015, Larissa Pöltl, “Task Cycle”, in Teaching Speaking. Wh-questions (Englisch 6. Klasse Gymnasium): Lesson Plan, Munich: GRIN Publishing...
  • In informal style questions the ka question particle is omitted and interrogativity is mainly accomplished through intonation and Wh-question words.2015, Lidia Tanaka, “Nourishing the Friendship: Questions in Friends’ Talk”, in Japanese Questions: Discourse, Context and Language...

Antonyms of wh-question

Forms of wh-question

pluralwh-questions
alternative formwh question
alternative formwh- question
alternative formWH-question
alternative formWH question
pluralWH-questions

Origin of wh-question

From the fact that many of the adverbs and pronouns that are used at the beginning of such sentences, such as what, when, which, who, and why, begin with wh.

Questions about wh-question

What does wh-question mean?
Wh-question means a question that is introduced by a wh-word (what, where, why, etc.) and cannot be answered by yes or no.
How do you use wh-question in a sentence?
The necessity to be able to answer a wh-question is thus a criterion distinguishing obligatory and optional modifications.
What part of speech is wh-question?
Wh-question is a noun.
How do you pronounce wh-question?
Wh-question is pronounced /ˈdʌbl̩juː eɪtʃ ˈkwɛst͡ʃən/ (UK).
What is the plural of wh-question?
The plural of wh-question is wh-questions.

Words near wh-question in the dictionary

  1. wh-in-situ
  2. wh-island
  3. wh-islands
  4. wh-movement
  5. wh-movements
  6. wh-question
  7. wh-questions
  8. wh-word
  9. wh-words
  10. wh@re
  11. wh@res

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wh-question (page history and authors); WH-question (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wh-question.wav.

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