In what year & in what state did the people finally have a say of an adoption of a constitution?

in what year

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in one year

year in infrastructure

in fiscal year

in the same year

in the last year

in the first year

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms

Why we use “In what year” instead of “In which year”? What’s the difference between them?

In what year - out of all the possible years in existence.

In which year - from a series or selection of years.

For example;

In what year did Queen Victoria commence her reign?

In which year between 1830 and 1940 did Queen Victoria commence her reign?

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Tell me please which question is correct:

What year did the song come out?

In what year did the song come out?

As a general rule, the question word which is used when talking about a specific group of things.

For example, if I have four shirts and can’t decide which one I should wear for the important meeting I have later on today, I can ask my husband Which shirt do you think I should put on?

Or if I ask my friend Which film would you like to see?, I’m referring to a couple of films only, not all the films that have ever been made. I just want her to choose from DVDs I have, or the films that are on at the cinema.

On the other hand, if I’d like to ask more general questions, the question word what should be used:

• What clothes do you like wearing?
• What films do you like watching?

The same logic applies to the questions starting with In which year and In what year?

If it’s only a few, specific years we can choose from, use which:

• In which year did the Beatles break up? Was it in 1970 or 1971?

If you would like to choose from a more general range, use what:

• In what year did Napoleon invade Spain?

For most people, this is a general question, as they have no idea when Napoleon came to power.

To learn more about forming questions, read How to Form Questions in English?

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We use “which year” when there is a limited number of choices of years and “what year” when it could be any year. 

In which year did France win the world cup? 2018 or 2019?

In what year was the war of independence?

You can see that there is a choice between 2018 and 2019 is the first example that means that we use “which”. 

“In what year” is more common when we are talking about any year in history.

“In which year” and “in what year” are common questions for quizzes.

In which year 

We use “in which year” when there is a range of years and we need to choose one. This could be obvious like in the example above or perhaps selecting a year in a decade. 

In reality, the speaker generally chooses what or which depending on the number of years that he or she thinks are possible. If there are a lot of options, then “what year” is more common and if there are a few options then “which year” is more common. 

In which year did Donald Trump win the presidency?

In what year

“In what year” is more common when there is a huge quantity of years that could possibly be the answer. Think about a question that is about history and there are a huge number of years possible. 

In what year did Mexico declare its independence?