Question

. ___________ is the meaning of fragrance?
a) Who
b) Whom
c) What
d) Which

Answer 1

Hint: A pronoun is a function word that is used in place of a noun or noun phrase. An interrogative pronoun is (grammar) a pronoun used in a question. In English, the five interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and whose (also used as relative pronouns). These require no antecedent.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out which of the pronouns given to us in the options is apt for the noun ‘meaning’.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question-
Option (a.), 'who', is defined as ‘(interrogative pronoun) What person or people; which person or people (used in a direct or indirect question).’Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as ‘meaning’ is not a person.
Option (b.), ‘whom', is defined as ‘(formal) What person or people; which person or people, as the object of a verb.’Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as ‘meaning’ is not a person.
Option (c.), ‘what', is defined as ‘(interrogative) which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.’ Therefore, option (c.) is correct as ‘‘meaning’ is a thing.
Option (d.), ‘which', is defined as ‘(relative) who; whom; what (of those mentioned or implied).’Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as we do not need a relative pronoun here, but an interrogative one.

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of relative pronouns. A relative pronoun is a pronoun (as `that' or `which' or `who') that introduces a relative clause referring to some antecedent.