4.29 'what'

'What' can be used as a pronoun or determiner, or in combination with 'if' or 'for'.

'What' is used as a pronoun to find out various kinds of specific information, for example details of an event, the meaning of a word or expression, or the reason for something.

• What's wrong with his mother?
• What has happened to him?
• What is the Cup Final?
• What keeps you hanging around here?

'What' can be used to ask someone's opinion of something.

• What do you think about the present political situation?

'What' is often used as the object of a preposition. The preposition usually goes at the end of the question.

• What are you interested in?

• What did he die of?

• What do you want to talk about?

'What' is used as a determiner to find out the identity of something or to ask what kind of thing it is.

• What books does she read?
• What church did you say you attend?

'What if' goes in front of a clause in the declarative mood. It is used to ask what should be done if a particular difficulty occurs.

• What if it's really bad weather?
• What if they didn't want to part with it, what would you do then?

You put 'what' at the beginning of a question and 'for' at the end of it when you want to know the reason for something or the purpose of something. 'What are you staring for?' means the same as 'Why are you staring?'. 'What is this handle for?' means 'What is the purpose of this handle?'.

• What are you going for?
• What are those lights for?

'What' can also be used in combination with 'about' or 'of'. This use is explained in paragraph 4.41.