A way with words

You use interrogative words when you want to ask a question. In English, these little words are sometimes called 'wh- words', because most of them begin with 'wh-'. Young children use interrogative words all the time, constantly asking, 'What? Who? When? How? and Where?'

The English poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) included an entertaining poem on the subject in his story The Elephant's Child.

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,