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Compound interrogative pronouns

English Language & Usage Asked on August 11, 2021

I’m confused what compound interrogative pronoun are used for? And what meaning does it give to a sentence? For ex

Whoever told you so?

Which also means who told you so? But what meaning does a sentence convey when a compound interrogative pronoun is used instead of a interrogative pronoun?

Sorry if I made any grammatical mistakes.

2 Answers

In the given example, "whoever" (the compound interrogative pronoun) is used to emphasize the interrogative pronoun. "Who told you?" is simple question. but to put stress on "who", we use "whoever".

Answered by user397837 on August 11, 2021

Your example should be written

Who ever told you so?

Here, "ever" is a separate word. As you point out, the question means "who told you so?" --- the word "ever" is not essential to the sense of the question; it just gives more emphasis.

So the word "whoever" is not in your example.

"Whoever" is not an interrogative word. It is called a "fused relative", and is used to like two clauses, as in these examples:

Whoever told you that was mistaken.

I would like to meet whoever told you that.

Answered by Rosie F on August 11, 2021

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