He crammedwhat little food was left, into the breast of his grey jacket.
Emphasises that something isnoteworthy orremarkable in quality or degree, in either a good or bad way; may be used in combination with certain other determiners, especially 'a', less often 'some'.
This showswhat beauty there is in nature.
You knowwhat nonsense she talks.
I found outwhat a liar he is.
(exclamative)Used to form exclamations indicating that something is remarkable, in either a good or bad way.
In cases where both "what" and "which" are possible, with similar meaning, "what" is preferred for open-ended choices, while "which" is preferred for choices from a closed group or set. For example, "Which one of these do you want?" not "What one of these do you want?".
As used to begin an exclamation,what andsuch are largely interchangeable, with a few exceptions:
Nouns modified bysuch need not appear at the beginning of the sentence:She sings with such passion.
such requires that the noun phrase it modifies begradable in some way.Such a disaster! is acceptable because adisaster may be minor or major in degree, butSuch a movie! is not (except with the unusual meaning that the movie under discussion has especially "movie-like" qualities).
how is another word used at the beginning of a sentence to form an exclamation (How quickly he ran!), but it modifies different syntactic elements (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and certaindeterminatives).
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,A Study in Scarlet, page60:
"I'll tell it ye from the beginning," he said. "My time is from ten at night to six in the morning. At eleven there was a fight at the 'White Hart'; but bar that all was quiet enough on the beat. At one o'clock it began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher—him who has the Holland Grove beat—and we stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street a-talkin'. Presently—maybe about two or a little after—I thought I would take a look round and see that all was right down the Brixton Road. It was precious dirty and lonely. Not a soul did I meet all the way down, though a cab or two went past me. I was a strollin' down, thinkin' between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house. Now, I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens was empty on account of him that owns them who won't have the drains seen to, though the very last tenantwhat lived in one of them died o' typhoid fever. I was knocked all in a heap therefore at seeing a light in the window, and I suspected as something was wrong. When I got to the door——"
Used before a prepositional phrase to emphasise that something is taken into consideration as a cause or reason; usually used in combination with 'with' (seewhat with), and much less commonly with other prepositions.
1787, Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke,Letters on the Study and Use of History: A Letter to Sir William Windham,page83:
In short;what by the indiscretion of people here,what by the rebound which came often back from London,what by the private interests and ambitious views of persons in the French court, andwhat by other causes unnecessary to be examined now, the most private transactions came to light [...]
1815, Rev. Mr. Milne, letter reprinted inThe Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle, Volume 23, page 82.[1]
The Chinese of all ranks, and in every place, received my books gladly, and listened with patience to what I had to say about the true God.—So thatwhat from opportunities of attending to the object of my Mission among the Chinese—what from seasons of religious instruction to Dutch and English—what from intercourse with gentlemen of education and knowledge of the world—what from occasions of stating clearly the object of Missions, and of endeavouring to remove prejudices against them—andwhat from the view of a highly cultivated country, happy under an enlightened and liberal government, I have much reason to be satisfied with this journey [...]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
—Siansia, nearby here don’t have library. — The National Library is a five-minute walk from herewhat, nomeh?
1978, L. C. Cheong,Youth in the Army, page142:
Most things come from Europewhat.
1989,Eleanor Wong,Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities, page 8, lines5–9:
Susan: Jalan Sultan,ah? Quite far from Jurong, you know. I may not be able to get there on time. Jackson:[…] I’ll tell Beng Huat to wait for you,lah. It’s not that far,what.
I told him to go to Woodlands to buy durian for me. He came back and said no durian. But hesome more said-ah, hegot see people selling durian in Bukit Timah. I ask him-ah. Why you never buy from Bukit Timah. On your waywhat.
2009,Jean Tay,Boom, Epigram Books,→ISBN, Act I, scene ii, page21:
boon:[…] You want to go see snowor not, Ma? mother: See for what? I open freezer can seealreadywhat. boon: Not the same,lah… Imagine snowflakes drifting down, melting when they touch your skin.[…]
Low, Ee Ling, Brown, Adam (2005)English in Singapore: An Introduction,→ISBN
Kuteva, Tania, Rhee, Seongha, Ziegeler, Debra, Sabban, Jessica (2018) “On sentence-final “what” in Singlish: Are you the Queen of England, or what?”, inJournal of Language Contact[3]
A user suggests that this Middle English entry be cleaned up, giving the reason:“This 1641 citation is NOT Middle English”.
Please see the discussion onRequests for cleanup(+) or thetalk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.
And as for on C good knyghtes I haue my self / but I fawte / l / for so many haue ben slayne in my dayes / and so Ladegreans delyuerd his doughter Gweneuer vnto Merlyn / and the table round with the C knyghtes / and so they rode fresshly with grete royalte /what by water andwhat by land / tyl that they came nyghe vnto london
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page78
