"Where is the cat?" - What part of speech is the word "where"?

Question

In the sentence, "Where is the cat?", what part of speech is the word "where"?

Frankly, I think no one knows. You can argue it's an adverb, you can argue that it's a conjunction, you can argue that it's a noun. — Hot Licks, Feb 03 '17 at 04:15

rogermue · Answer 1 · 2016-03-02T06:02:46.873

4

Wikipedia uses interrogative word or simply question-word. This word class is not contained in the traditional list of word classes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative_word

edited Mar 02 '16 at 06:02

answered Mar 02 '16 at 05:55

rogermue

From that, I guess it would be an "interrogative pro-adverb." – Der Übermensch Mar 02 '16 at 06:38
@H3br3wHamm3r81: or maybe more of an "interrogative pro-prepositional phrase". Relevant: Is “now” a “preposition”? – herisson Feb 03 '17 at 04:22

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '16 at 05:22

1

"Where" is an adverb telling us 'at what location.'

answered Mar 02 '16 at 05:22

Aziz

user71207 · Answer 3 · 2021-07-19T08:19:46.443

-1

The term is called a locative, since it orients you at a location.

edited Jul 19 '21 at 08:19

answered Jul 19 '21 at 07:03

user71207

This would be better if you included a linked dictionary definition of locative. – KillingTime Jul 19 '21 at 07:07
Done. Thanks for the suggestion – user71207 Jul 19 '21 at 08:19
Locative is not a part of speech, but rather words or phrases expressing location. For example, in the yard is a prepositional phrase with a locative role in We stopped in the yard. – DW256 Jul 19 '21 at 08:28

3 Answers3