Grade 5 English Interrogatives – Homophones And Hymophones Notes

1. What are interrogatives?

Interrogatives are question words we use to ask for information. They are also called "WH-words" because many begin with wh-.

• Who — asks about people. (Who is your teacher?)
• What — asks about things or ideas. (What is in the bag?)
• Where — asks about place. (Where is the market?)
• When — asks about time. (When is the game?)
• Why — asks for a reason. (Why are you late?)
• How — asks about manner or condition. (How did you go to school?)
• Which — asks to choose. (Which matatu goes to town?)
• Whose — asks about possession. (Whose pen is this?)

2. Basic question word order (simple present / most tenses)

- WH-word + auxiliary (do/does/did/am/is/are/was/were) + subject + main verb + rest?

Example (present): Where + do + you + live? → Where do you live?

Example (present continuous): What + is + she + doing? → What is she doing?

3. Yes/No questions (not WH-words)

Use auxiliary + subject + verb: Is he coming? or Do they play football?

4. What are homophones?

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and usually different spellings.

Example: "see" (to look) and "sea" (large body of water) — both sound /siː/.

5. Why homophones matter in questions

- When people speak, homophones sound the same. Listeners must use context to understand the meaning.

- In writing, use the correct spelling to make meaning clear. A wrong homophone can change a question's meaning.

6. Examples that mix interrogatives and homophones

• Which matatu goes to the market? (Which = choice) — not "witch"
• Do you know whether it will rain today? (whether = choice/possibility)
  Compare: weather = rain, sun, wind. So: "What is the weather today?" ☀️🌧️
• Who can hear the teacher? ("who" asks about people; hear/here are homophones: "I can hear" vs "I am here" )

7. Short practice (try these)

1. Choose the correct word: "Do you know (whether / weather) the match starts at 3 pm?"
2. Make a question: (she / go / school / how) → "How does she go to school?" (or "How did she go to school?")
3. Pick the homophone: "I can (hear / here) the teacher." Which is right?
4. Correct the sentence: "Which is your favourite witch?" (Is this right? If not, fix it.)

8. Answers and notes

1. whether — correct: "Do you know whether the match starts at 3 pm?"
2. "How does she go to school?" (WH-word + auxiliary + subject + verb)
3. hear — "I can hear the teacher." (here = at this place)
4. Change to: "Which is your favourite witch?" is correct only if you mean a favourite witch from a story. If you meant choice, keep "which"; if you meant a witch (magic person), "witch" is correct spelling.