five W's

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plural noun

Journalism. who, what, when, where, and why: along with how, the essential questions about the subject of a news story that the lead is traditionally expected to answer.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!

Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.

Question 1 of 7

“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby five W's

five-spice powder, five-spot, five-star, five stones, Five Towns, five W's, Five-Year Plan, fix, fixate, fixated, fixation

How to use five W's in a sentence

“It was Stephen Hawking and five other Nobel laureates,” Krauss recalled.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking|M.L. Nestel|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The Big Five banks dubbed too big to fail, are 35 percent bigger than they were when the meltdown was triggered.
Sen. Warren’s Main Street Crusade to Pressure Clinton|Eleanor Clift|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The judges who handle arraignments at criminal court in all five boroughs have a small fraction of their usual caseloads.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
After four or five months of casual interaction, they realized they both had lost a young parent to cancer.
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone|Samantha Levine|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST

“The play contains one five minute scene about James Hewitt,” Conway says.
Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play|Tom Sykes|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I presume the twenty-five or thirty miles at this end is unhealthy, even for natives, but it surely need not be so.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
Five of the number had studied with Liszt before, and the young men are artists already before the public.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Before daybreak we had ridden five and twenty miles, but had been compelled to abandon two more guns.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
These Rules (leaving out the Tenor) serves for five bells; and leaving out the fifth and Tenor, they serve for four bells.
Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing|Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman
At length only four or five flames remained, feebly wavering in their pools of melted wax.
The Boarded-Up House|Augusta Huiell Seaman