Another of my favourites.
And no, "Another of my favourites" isn't a complete sentence, nor a complete paragraph. And strictly speaking you shouldn't use the conjunction "And" at the beginning of a sentence, let alone do it in two consecutive sentences like I just have. However, some rules need breaking, especially when writing for the Internet.
However, (there's another old rule broken) when discussing which words to use, it's nice to use the right ones when there is no advantage in using the wrong ones.
The words which and what are often wrongly used interchangeably, and I was guilty of misusing them frequently.
Which route should I take to work this morning, the bus route or cut across the field?
What route should I take to work this morning, the bus route or cut across the field?
The correct sentence starts with which, in that which is used specifically where there is a defined number of choices.What is used when the choice is less limited.
"Which colour jacket shall I wear," suggests that there is a known choice of colours: the red one or the green one.
"What colour jacket shall I wear," suggests that there is an unlimited set of possibilities.
If you're asking a girlfriend about her shoes for a night out, you might say, "Which shoes are you wearing?" This shows that you can visualise a small range of possibilities. The answer might be "THE (specific) blue ones".
If you ask "What colour shoes are you wearing?" then the answer may be "I'm wearing A (non-specific) blue pair".
Lastly, your boss asks you to produce two invoices, one for company A and one for company B. At some point during the morning he stands behind you and leans over. "Which are you doing", he asks. "Company B" you'll answer.
If he comes up behind you, leans over and says "What are you doing," you're probably in some sort of trouble.
Top Helpers in This Lesson
Not that mine is perfect, but I must have had VERY GOOD TEACHERS as I was painfully and deliberately acquiring English as my second language...I would never have had the guts to put anything up as training but I find it hilarious and can only commend you, Paul.I feel like I have found a soul mate griping about the same thing. I hope you have given a tutorial on my pet hate: the misuse of the words to lay and to lie. My patients always tell me they were laying down...their life, perhaps? And working in Ashton-under - Lyne near Manchester one of my patients proceeded to tell me: "I were just eating me tea, when..."
Coming from South Africa I never thought that i would need an interpreter for English, but there I did!
ReplyWhen ever I hear the word "sat" on telly I shout the word "sitting!" My wife just sighs.
I'll try to do "me" and "I" tomorrow, along with the correction to "me and him went out".
1) It's not 'Lay Lady Lay', it's 'Lie Lady Lie';
2) It's not 'Lay Down, Sally', it's 'Lie Down, Sally'; and
3) It's not 'I Feel Good!', but 'I Feel Well'.
I may not have used the proper punctuation above, but this discussion is about grammar, right? :-)
