What

We can usewhatto ask for information about things and actions:

Whatdo you want?

What’s she doing? Tell her to stop at once!

Whattime are you leaving?

We can also usewhatin indirect questions:

She asked mewhatmy address was.

I wonderwhatJim Barfield is doing these days.

We can usewhatin informal situations to ask someone to repeat something if we don’t hear it or understand it:

A:

Did you get the paper?

B:

Sorry,what?(sorryalone would be more polite)

A:

Did you get the paper?

B:

Oh, yes. It’s in the kitchen.

We can ask emphatic questions usingwhateverorwhat on earthto express shock or surprise. We stresseverandearth:

Joan,whateverare you doing? You’ll give yourself an electric shock!(stronger thanWhat are you doing?)

What onearthis she wearing? She looks awful in that red and white dress!(stronger thanWhat is she wearing?)

We can usewhatas a pronoun to mean ‘the thing(s) that’:

Whatwe need to do is make a list of useful phone numbers.(the thing we need to do)

I can’t decidewhatto buy Liz for her birthday.

I haven’t got many Beatles CDs, but you can borrowwhatI have.

We don’t usewhatas a relative pronoun. We usewhich:

This is the bookwhichthe lecturer mentioned.

Not: …the book what the lecturer mentioned.

We can usewhatin exclamations to express a strong feeling or opinion. In this case, we usewhatas a determiner before a noun or beforea/an(+ adjective) + noun:

Whatlovely flowers!

Whata horrible smell!

Whata mess!

We can usewhat … for?in two ways. We can use it in informal situations to meanwhy?:

Whatdid you phone herfor?(informal:Why did you phone her?)

We can also usewhat … for?to ask about the purpose of something:

A:

What’s that buttonfor?(What is the purpose of that button?)

B:

It’s the on–off switch for the radio.

• We don’tusewhatas a relative pronoun:

The hotelwhichwas least expensive turned out to be the best.

Not:The hotel what was least expensive…

She never asked our permission to use the room,whichwas very rude of her.

Not: …what was very rude of her.

• We don’t usewhatafter words which take athat-clause:

I am very happythatyou can come and visit us.

Not: …happy what you can come…