What part of speech is the word which

A word doesn’t necessarily belong to a particular part of speech. Depending on how it is used in a sentence, a word can belong to more than one part of speech. For example, word paint can be a noun, a verb, or an adjective:

We need blue paint for the walls. [Noun]

I’ve painted the walls. [Verb]

The paint shop is not yet open. [Adjective]

People find it hard to associate question words such as which with any part of speech, as they think that question words are made just to ask questions and do nothing else in a sentence. But, like paint, they function as quite a few parts of speech.

In this post, we’ll analyze the word which grammatically, looking at the two parts of speech it belongs to: pronoun (two types) and adjective. We’ll also look at few parts of speech it doesn’t belong to, but few erroneously think it does. And all this with plenty of examples.

The first two sections look at which in its role of asking questions.

1. Is ‘which’ a pronoun?

Yes.

It can function as an interrogative pronoun. An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to ask questions, the most common being who, whom, what, which, and whose. Examples:

Which is the best book you read last year?

“Which is the best restaurant in the town?” Sam asked.

Note that which can also act as interrogative pronoun in sentences where it’s not a question word. This has been covered later (under conjunction or subordinating conjunction subcategory) because it doesn’t belong to the direct question category. Examples:

(Comments that go with examples are in square brackets.)

We’ll soon find which is more efficacious vaccine. [Comment: The underlined part is a noun clause.]

I don’t know which to pick. [Not a noun clause]

Which can also be used as relative pronoun where it’s not a question word. This too has been covered later (under relative pronoun subcategory). Example:

The house which was leaning dangerously after the recent flood was razed down by the municipal corporation. [The underlined part is a relative clause.]

If you’re used to seeing only words such as he, she, and you as pronouns, you might struggle to visualize which as a pronoun. But remember every word in a sentence has to be one of the eight parts of speech. Think of which in the above sentences – whether a direct question or not – as referring to a particular thing, a role pronouns perform. And it comes with the added tag of interrogative because it asks questions.

2. Is ‘which’ an adjective?

Yes.

It can function as an interrogative adjective. An interrogative adjective, also known as interrogative determiner or just determiner, is also used to ask questions, but, like an adjective, it modifies (or describes) a noun and is placed immediately before the noun. The three interrogative adjectives are which, what, and whose. Examples:

Which ice-cream do you prefer? [Which modifies the noun ice-cream, narrowing down the options to a particular ice-cream, and it comes immediately before the noun.]

“Which restaurant would you recommend for dinner?” Sam asked.

Note that which can also act as interrogative adjective in sentences where it’s not a question word. This has been covered later (under conjunction or subordinating conjunction subcategory) because it doesn’t belong to the direct question category. Examples:

I can’t decide which route you take. [The underlined part is a noun clause.]

I don’t know which route to take. [Not a noun clause]

If you’re used to seeing only words such as hot, tall, and dumb as adjectives, you might struggle to visualize which as an adjective. Think of which in the above sentences – whether a direct question or not – as a word placed immediately before a noun and describing it, just like adjectives do. And it comes with the added tag of interrogative because it asks questions.

So far, we’ve looked at which in its role of asking questions. But which does way more than just asking questions: it can connect parts of a sentence. Conjunctions, relative pronouns, and prepositions are the most common grammatical tools to connect one part of a sentence to the other. In the next three sections, let’s examine if which belongs to any of these three parts of speech.

3. Is ‘which’ a conjunction or subordinating conjunction?

(Note that subordinating conjunction is a subcategory of conjunction. If a word is subordinating conjunction, it’ll certainly be conjunction.)

No.

The answer may have come as a surprise to you. When which introduces a dependent clause and joins it to an independent clause, it is commonly treated as a conjunction or subordinating conjunction. But from grammatical perspective, it is not. Let’s dig this up in detail as there is lot of confusion on this point.

What’s a conjunction?

A conjunction is a part of speech that mainly joins clauses but can also join words or phrases. Whereas coordinating conjunctions join grammatically equal elements, subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses and join them to independent clauses. But to be a conjunction, the word can’t play another grammatical role (noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) in the clause it introduces. After all, the very same word in the very same sentence can’t be two different parts of speech. Don’t forget that conjunction is one of the eight parts of speech.

There are three types of dependent clauses: adverb clause, relative clause, and noun clause. Here is a summary of whether the connector (we’ll see if it’s a conjunction or not) plays a grammatical role in the clause it introduces.

1. Adverb clause: No connector joining an adverb clause to an independent clause plays a grammatical role in the adverb clause it introduces. Hence, they’re conjunctions. And because they make the clause dependent (or make it subordinate), they can be further subclassified as subordinating conjunctions. Examples: because, since, after, before, while, when, until, etc.
2. Relative clause: All connectors joining a relative clause to an independent clause play a grammatical role in the relative clause they introduce. (They play the grammatical role of pronoun and adverb, which gives these connectors the name relative pronoun and relative adverb.) Hence, they’re not even conjunctions, let alone coordinating or subordinating.
3. Noun clause: The situation is mixed in noun clauses. Some connectors joining a noun clause to an independent clause play a role in the noun clause they introduce and some don’t. Those that don’t play a role (if, whether, and that) are subordinating conjunctions. Others are not.

You can call connectors that are not subordinating conjunctions as subordinators (even though not conjunction, they subordinate the clause they introduce), which would include relative pronouns, relative adverbs, and other connectors (except if, whether, and that) that introduce noun clauses.

With that out of the way, let’s come back to whether which is a conjunction or a subordinating conjunction. Now, which introduces two types of dependent clauses: relative clause and noun clause.

Let’s take noun clause here; relative clause follows.

In case of noun clause, which plays the role of interrogative pronoun or interrogative adjective, just like its role in asking direct questions that we saw earlier. It’s not surprising because noun clauses are often indirect questions. Examples:

We’ll soon find which is more efficacious vaccine. [The noun clause has been underlined. Which is an interrogative pronoun here.]

I can’t decide which route you take. [Which is an interrogative adjective here.]

Since which plays a role (pronoun or adjective) in the clause it introduces, it’s not a conjunction, let alone a subordinating conjunction. You can call it a subordinator or other similar term, which BTW is just an informal term, to denote its role in subordinating the noun clause.

Common error: People mistakenly treat which introducing noun clauses as conjunction or subordinating conjunction. That’s because, in common parlance, the term conjunction is associated with any word that joins two clauses and the term subordinating conjunction with any word that joins a dependent clause to an independent clause. People forget to take into account that it can play another part of speech in the dependent clause, in which case it can’t be a conjunction or subordinating conjunction.

Time for relative clause now.

4. Is ‘which’ a relative pronoun?

Yes.

It can function as a relative pronoun. A relative pronoun, if you recall, joins one part of a sentence to another by referring to a noun. It introduces relative clause, which gives more information about the noun referred to. Examples:

The house which was leaning dangerously after the recent flood was razed down by the municipal corporation. [The relative clause has been underlined.]

Coelacanth, which went extinct with the dinosaurs millions of years ago, has been found alive in the Indian Ocean.

Note that in each example which refers to the immediately preceding noun. And because it refers to a noun, it’s a pronoun.

Common error: This error is less common than the one in noun clause, but people sometimes call which a subordinating conjunction, again for the same reason of associating a word that joins a dependent clause to an independent clause with subordinating conjunction. But which, in this role, is a relative pronoun.

5. Is ‘which’ a preposition?

No.

Few confuse which with prepositions mainly because both connect two parts of a sentence and both can precede a noun or pronoun. A case in point:

We’ll find about vaccine efficacy after the trials.

We’ll find which vaccine is more effective after the trials.

We’ll find which vaccine to take after the trials.

In all the three sentences, about and which connect two parts of the sentence and are followed by a noun or noun phrase. If about is a preposition, then why isn’t which.

Looking at only the succeeding noun or noun phrase, though, doesn’t present a holistic picture. This does:

We’ll find about vaccine efficacy after the trials.

We’ll find which vaccine is more effective after the trials.

We’ll find which vaccine to take after the trials.

In the second sentence, the noun clause introduced by which works as a unit. In other words, which doesn’t come with just the noun vaccine but lot more, a clause. That’s not what prepositions do.

In the third sentence, if you recall what we covered earlier in the post, which is functioning as an interrogative adjective, implying it modifies noun. That’s not what prepositions do. (For those who are grammatically inclined, the entire phrase which vaccine to take is a noun phrase with an adjective which as a premodifier and an infinitive to take as a postmodifier.)

From the above examples, you’d realize that mere presence of a noun or noun phrase after a word doesn’t mean it’s a preposition. Adjectives can be followed by a noun or noun phrase. So can others be. We’ve to look at the holistic picture.

Bottomline, which is not a preposition. And because it’s not a preposition, it can’t initiate a prepositional phrase.

So far, we’ve looked at role of which in asking questions and connecting parts of a sentence. Let’s now examine the final piece, verb.

6. Is ‘which’ a verb?

Although rarely, some raise question about which being a verb.

Is it a verb? Not even remotely!

We can trek. We can climb. We can ascend. We can descend.

But can we which?

Which doesn’t do any action. Hence, it’s not a verb.

Another test you can run is to check if which has past, past participle, and present participle forms like verbs do.

Can we’ve the words whiched or whiching, assuming it to be a regular verb?

No. Hence, it’s not a verb.

Few also confuse which with linking verb probably because of its role in linking (or joining) a dependent clause to an independent clause. But it’s not a linking verb. As we saw earlier, which acts as a connector (more specifically, a subordinator) in its role in linking a dependent clause to an independent clause.

Summary

Which mainly functions as a pronoun (with two flavors), but it can sometimes play the role of an adjective:

Which is your favorite story? [Interrogative pronoun]

Which story is your favorite? [Interrogative adjective]

I can’t decide which is my favorite story. [Interrogative pronoun in noun clause. It’s not a conjunction or subordinating conjunction introducing the noun clause.]

I can’t decide which story is my favorite. [Interrogative adjective in noun clause. It’s not a conjunction or subordinating conjunction introducing the noun clause.]

I like stories which have setting in countryside. [Relative pronoun]

When you start breaking it down, the English language is pretty complicated—especially if you’re trying to learn it from scratch! One of the most important English words to understand is the.

But what part of speech is the word the, and when should it be used in a sentence? Is the word the a preposition? Is the a pronoun? Or is the word the considered a different part of speech?

To help you learn exactly how the word the works in the English language, we’re going to do the following in this article:

• Answer the question, «What part of speech is the?»
• Explain how to use the correctly in sentences, with examples
• Provide a full list of other words that are classified as the same part of speech as the in the English language

Okay, let’s get started learning about the word the!

In the English language the word the is classified as an article, which is a word used to define a noun. (More on that a little later.)

But an article isn’t one of the eight parts of speech. Articles are considered a type of adjective, so «the» is technically an adjective as well. However, «the» can also sometimes function as an adverb in certain instances, too.

In short, the word «the» is an article that functions as both an adjective and an adverb, depending on how it’s being used. Having said that, the is most commonly used as an article in the English language. So, if you were wondering, «Is the a pronoun, preposition, or conjunction,» the answer is no: it’s an article, adjective, and an adverb!

While we might think of an article as a story that appears in a newspaper or website, in English grammar, articles are words that help specify nouns.

The as an Article

So what are «articles» in the English language? Articles are words that identify nouns in order to demonstrate whether the noun is specific or nonspecific. Nouns (a person, place, thing, or idea) can be identified by two different types of articles in the English language: definite articles identify specific nouns, and indefinite articles identify nonspecific nouns.

The word the is considered a definite article because it defines the meaning of a noun as one particular thing. It’s an article that gives a noun a definite meaning: a definite article. Generally, definite articles are used to identify nouns that the audience already knows about. Here’s a few examples of how «the» works as a definite article:

We went to the rodeo on Saturday. Did you see the cowboy get trampled by the bull?

This (grisly!) sentence has three instances of «the» functioning as a definite article: the rodeo, the cowboy, and the bull. Notice that in each instance, the comes directly before the noun. That’s because it’s an article’s job to identify nouns.

In each of these three instances, the refers to a specific (or definite) person, place, or thing. When the speaker says the rodeo, they’re talking about one specific rodeo that happened at a certain place and time. The same goes for the cowboy and the bull: these are two specific people/animals that had one kinda terrible thing happen to them!

It can be a bit easier to see how definite articles work if you see them in the same sentence as an indefinite article (a or an). This sentence makes the difference a lot more clear:

A bat flew into the restaurant and made people panic.

Okay. This sentence has two articles in it: a and the. So what’s the difference? Well, you use a when you’re referring to a general, non-specific person, place, or thing because its an indefinite article. So in this case, using a tells us this isn’t a specific bat. It’s just a random bat from the wild that decided to go on an adventure.

Notice that in the example, the writer uses the to refer to the restaurant. That’s because the event happened at a specific time and at a specific place. A bat flew into one particular restaurant to cause havoc, which is why it’s referred to as the restaurant in the sentence.

The last thing to keep in mind is that the is the only definite article in the English language, and it can be used with both singular and plural nouns. This is probably one reason why people make the mistake of asking, «Is the a pronoun?» Since articles, including the, define the meaning of nouns, it seems like they could also be combined with pronouns. But that’s not the case. Just remember: articles only modify nouns.

Adjectives are words that help describe nouns. Because «the» can describe whether a noun is a specific object or not, «the» is also considered an adjective.

The as an Adjective

You know now that the is classified as a definite article and that the is used to refer to a specific person, place, or thing. But defining what part of speech articles are is a little bit tricky.

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. The thing about these eight parts of speech in English is that they contain smaller categories of types of words and phrases in the English language. Articles are considered a type of determiner, which is a type of adjective.

Let’s break down how articles fall under the umbrella of «determiners,» which fall under the umbrella of adjectives. In English, the category of «determiners» includes all words and phrases in the English language that are combined with a noun to express an aspect of what the noun is referring to. Some examples of determiners are the, a, an, this, that, my, their, many, few, several, each, and any. The is used in front of a noun to express that the noun refers to a specific thing, right? So that’s why «the» can be considered a determiner.

And here’s how determiners—including the article the—can be considered adjectives. Articles and other determiners are sometimes classified as adjectives because they describe the nouns that they precede. Technically, the describes the noun it precedes by communicating specificity and directness. When you say, «the duck,» you’re describing the noun «duck» as referring to a specific duck. This is different than saying a duck, which could mean any one duck anywhere in the world!

When «the» comes directly before a word that’s not a noun, then it’s operating as an adverb instead of an adjective.

The as an Adverb

Finally, we mentioned that the can also be used as an adverb, which is one of the eight main parts of speech we outlined above. Adverbs modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, but never modify nouns.

Sometimes, the can be used to modify adverbs or adjectives that occur in the comparative degree. Adverbs or adjectives that compare the amounts or intensity of a feeling, state of being, or action characterizing two or more things are in the comparative degree. Sometimes the appears before these adverbs or adjectives to help convey the comparison!

Here’s an example where the functions as an adverb instead of an article/adjective:

Lainey believes the most outrageous things.

Okay. We know that when the is functioning as an adjective, it comes before a noun in order to clarify whether it’s specific or non-specific. In this case, however, the precedes the word most, which isn’t a noun—it’s an adjective. And since an adverb modifies an adjective, adverb, or verb, that means the functions as an adverb in this sentence.

We know that can be a little complicated, so let’s dig into another example together:

Giovanni’s is the best pizza place in Montana.

The trick to figuring out whether the article the is functioning as an adjective or an adverb is pretty simple: just look at the word directly after the and figure out its part of speech. If that word is a noun, then the is functioning as an adjective. If that word isn’t a noun, then the is functioning like an adverb.

Now, reread the second example. The word the comes before the word best. Is best a noun? No, it isn’t. Best is an adjective, so we know that the is working like an adverb in this sentence.

How to Use The Correctly in Sentences

An important part of answering the question, «What part of speech is the word the?» includes explaining how to use the correctly in a sentence. Articles like the are some of the most common words used in the English language. So you need to know how and when to use it! And since using the as an adverb is less common, we’ll provide examples of how the can be used as an adverb as well.

Using The as an Article

In general, it is correct and appropriate to use the in front of a noun of any kind when you want to convey specificity. It’s often assumed that you use the to refer to a specific person, place, or thing that the person you’re speaking to will already be aware of. Oftentimes, this shared awareness of who, what, or where «the» is referring to is created by things already said in the conversation, or by context clues in a given social situation.

Let’s look at an example here:

Say you’re visiting a friend who just had a baby. You’re sitting in the kitchen at your friend’s house while your friend makes coffee. The baby, who has been peacefully dozing in a bassinet in the living room, begins crying. Your friend turns to you and asks, «Can you hold the baby while I finish doing this?»

Now, because of all of the context surrounding the social situation, you know which baby your friend is referring to when they say, the baby. There’s no need for further clarification, because in this case, the gives enough direct and specific meaning to the noun baby for you to know what to do!

In many cases, using the to define a noun requires less or no awareness of an immediate social situation because people have a shared common knowledge of the noun that the is referring to. Here are two examples:

Are you going to watch the eclipse tomorrow?

Did you hear what the President said this morning?

In the first example, the speaker is referring to a natural phenomenon that most people are aware of—eclipses are cool and rare! When there’s going to be an eclipse, everyone knows about it. If you started a conversation with someone by saying, «Are you going to watch the eclipse tomorrow?» it’s pretty likely they’d know which eclipse the is referring to.

In the second example, if an American speaking to another American mentions what the President said, the other American is likely going to assume that the refers to the President of the United States. Conversely, if two Canadians said this to one another, they would likely assume they’re talking about the Canadian prime minister!

So in many situations, using the before a noun gives that noun specific meaning in the context of a particular social situation.

Using The as an Adverb

Now let’s look at an example of how «the» can be used as an adverb. Take a look at this sample sentence:

The tornado warning made it all the more likely that the game would be canceled.

Remember how we explained that the can be combined with adverbs that are making a comparison of levels or amounts of something between two entities? The example above shows how the can be combined with an adverb in such a situation. The is combined with more and likely to form an adverbial phrase.

So how do you figure this out? Well, if the words immediately after the are adverbs, then the is functioning as an adverb, too!

Here’s another example of how the can be used as an adverb:

I had the worst day ever.

In this case, the is being combined with the adverb worst to compare the speaker’s day to the other days. Compared to all the other days ever, this person’s was the worst…period. Some other examples of adverbs that you might see the combined with include all the better, the best, the bigger, the shorter, and all the sooner.

One thing that can help clarify which adverbs the can be combined with is to check out a list of comparative and superlative adverbs and think about which ones the makes sense with!

3 Articles in the English Language

Now that we’ve answered the question, «What part of speech is the?», you know that the is classified as an article. To help you gain a better understanding of what articles are and how they function in the English language, here’s a handy list of 3 words in the English language that are also categorized as articles.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking for more grammar resources, be sure to check out our guides on every grammar rule you need to know to ace the SAT (or the ACT)!

Learning more about English grammar can be really helpful when you’re studying a foreign language, too. We highly recommend that you study a foreign language in high school—not only is it great for you, it looks great on college applications, too. If you’re not sure which language to study, check out this helpful article that will make your decision a lot easier.

Speaking of applying for college…one of the most important parts of your application packet is your essay. Check out this expert guide to writing college essays that will help you get into your dream school.

Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!

§ 2. Classification of pronouns.

Pronouns fall under the
following groups:

1. personal
   pronouns:
   /, he,
   she, it, we, you, they.

2. possessive
   pronouns:
   my,
   his, her, its, our, your, their;

mine, his, hers, ours,
yours, theirs.

(3) reflexive
pronouns:
myself,
himself, herself, itself, ourselves,

yourself (yourselves),
themselves.

1. reciprocal
   pronouns:
   each
   other, one another.

2. demonstrative
   pronouns:
   this
   (these), that (those), such,

(the) same.

(6) interrogative
pronouns:
who,
whose, what, which.
(!)
relative
pronouns:
who,
whose, which, that, as.

1. conjunctive
   pronouns:
   who,
   whose, which, what.

2. defining
   pronouns:
   each,
   every, everybody, everyone, every-

thing, all, either,
both, other, another.

(10) indefinite
pronouns:
some,
any, somebody, anybody, some-

thing, anything, someone,
anyone, one.

(11) negative
pronouns:
no,
none, neither, nobody, no one, nothing.

There
is no uniformity of morphological and syntactical char­acteristics
in the groups of pronouns. Some pronouns have the grammatical
categories of person,
gender, case, and
number.
The
categories
of person and gender (in the third person singular) exist only
in personal and possessive pronouns.

Pronouns
as well as nouns have two cases but whereas some pronouns
(e. g., personal pronouns and the relative and interroga­tive
who)
have
the nominative and objective cases, others (e. g. indefinite
pronouns such as somebody,
reciprocal
pronouns such as one
another, negative
pronouns such as nobody)
have
the common and
genitive cases.

The
category of number is found in demonstrative pronouns (this
and
that)
and
the defining pronoun other.

Many
pronouns are characterized by double syntactical use (they may
be used as subject, predicative, object, and at the same time as
attribute). Here belong demonstrative pronouns, possessive pro­nouns,
etc.

§ 3. Personal pronouns.

1.
The personal pronouns are: /, he,
she, it, we, you, they. The
personal pronouns have the grammatical categories of person, case,
number and (in the third person singular) gender.

53

The
personal pronouns have two
cases: the
nominative
case
and
the objective case.

The
nominative case; /, he,
she, it, we, you, they.¹

The
objective case: me,
him, her, it, us, you, them.²

The
objective case of the pronouns /, he.,
she, we is
expressed by
suppletive forms.

In
colloquial speech me,
not
/ is commonly used as a predica­tive:
Who
is there? —
It
is me.

The
personal pronouns have two
numbers, singular
(I,
he, she, it)
and
pluial (we,
they).

The
second-person pronoun you
is
both singular and plural.

The
pronouns of the third person he,
she, it distinguish
gender. Male
beings (man,
father, uncle, boy, etc.)
are referred to as. he;
female
beings (woman,
mother, aunt, girl, etc.)
are referred to as
she;
inanimate
things (house,
tree, cap, etc.)
are referred to
as it?

Her
husband
asked
a few questions and sat down to read the

evening
paper. He was a silent man… (Dreiser)

And
then he turned and saw the girl...
She
was
a pale, ethe- !

real creature, with wide,
spiritual eyes and a wealth of golden j

hair.
(London)

He
did not know what to do with his cap,
and
was stuffing it
ij

into
his coat pocket… (London)

As
some nouns denote animate beings of either sex, masculine [
or
feminine (friend,
teacher, servant, cousin, etc.),
personal pro- j nouns are often used to specify them:

«Tell
your servant that he
must
not use such words to Hend- f rike,
Mr. Allan,» Stella said to me. (Haggard)

2.
Personal pronouns may have different functions in the sen­tence,
those of subject, object, predicative:

I was not free to resume the
interrupted chain of my reflections

till
bed-time… (Ch.
Bronte) (subject)

He
arranged to meet her
at
the 96th Street station… (Wilson)

(OBJECT)

«Who’s there?»
«It’s me.» «Who’s me?» «George Jackson,
sir.»

(Twain)
(PREDICATIVE)

But
I think that was him
I
spoke to. (Cronin)
(predicative)

¹ The
archaic pronoun of the second person singular is thou.

² The
objective case of thou
is
thee.

³ In
literary style the general principle is to associate with the
pronoun he
words
indicating strong forces, violent passions, violent
actions, big heavenly,
bodies {wind,
fear, love, anger, despair, sun); and
to associate with the pro-/
noun she
gentler
forces, gentler feelings, smaller heavenly bodies (hope,
mercy, f
justice,
modesty, moon).

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