Why is it that English speakers no longer differentiate between What and Which??

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: blakeatwork
Most people type as they speak...

I'm guilty on occasion, of not knowing, or mis-typing.... but I think the general gist of the text gets across...

It's about the dumbest common denominator..

i agree, but the prevalence of the what / which misuse leads me to believe it's more than just mis-typing.

 

"that's because you always say it and hear it that way.

for me, what and which is like much and many. which distinguishes one from a group, what is more qualitative. which is objects, what is ideas.

which car, not what car.

what kind of car, not which kind of car."

Actually, I don't believe the two are objects vs. ideas. I think what vs. which is a matter of restrictive vs. nonrestrictive. "Which" in that context is restrictive.

The links you gave do qualify for abuse of "which". However, in normal circumstances, the two are comparative. Here are examples:

What car do you drive?
Which car do you drive: Toyota, Hyundi or Honda?

The two are acceptable, except "what" does not restrict the answerer's choices. In contrast, "which" forces the answerer to choose between what is given.

Another example:

What is your favourite colour?
Which is your favourite colour: Red, yellow, green, or blue?

What is your name?
Which is your name: Scott, James, Kevin, Tom, or Luke?

Again, the first is nonrestrictive, whereas the second is not. "Which" assumes a restriction, whereas "what" does not. The answerer to the first could say "purple" and "Lisa".

 

A bump for you, PlatinumGold, in case you missed my response. When I originally posted, I was not paying attention to your discussion of which vs. what, in particular. Again, the difference between the two, as far as I know, is just one presumes a restriction, whilst the other does not.

OLLie: "I like that explanation, it makes sense to me. Hopefully, I'll remember to put it to use.

*edit* Out of curiosity, should that first comma above be a semi-colon? "

Yes, the first comma should be a semi-colon. Alternatively, you could put a period.

Since you seem genuinely interested in learning grammar, I highly recommend the following books, in order of preference: A Writer's Reference, by Diana Hacker, and When Words Collide, (4th Edition highly recommended) by L. Kessler and D. McDonald.

 

[konichiwa]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
But can you say ebonics is really another language? I mean come on! It's just murdered english, lol! FORSHIZZLE! I also like that rap song "Right Thurr"! What is thurr?

No, it's not another language, it's a dialect of English. And it's not just "murdered english"

 

[Amorphus]

Originally posted by: Ynog
I hate to say it, but the internet has {improper tense} been the downfall of grammar.

Think about email. How often do you receive email that doesn't have a large amount of
grammatical errors. {improper punctuation. should be a question} People don't use complete sentences, {improper comma usage} using capitals,{improper sentence structure in the clause} or none, and
misspellings in general {what does this refer to?}. While people may think this is ok {"ok" is not a word}, it just starts bad habits.
Forums are just as bad. It might start as laziness, but it has turned into something
much worse.

Which and what are just an example. Alot{should be two words} of people don't know the difference between you're and your.
Although, {comma splice} I seriously doubt that its just English speakers that do this.

Proofreading is fun.

:wine:

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: luvly
"that's because you always say it and hear it that way.

for me, what and which is like much and many. which distinguishes one from a group, what is more qualitative. which is objects, what is ideas.

which car, not what car.

what kind of car, not which kind of car."

Actually, I don't believe the two are objects vs. ideas. I think what vs. which is a matter of restrictive vs. nonrestrictive. "Which" in that context is restrictive.

The links you gave do qualify for abuse of "which". However, in normal circumstances, the two are comparative. Here are examples:

What car do you drive?
Which car do you drive: Toyota, Hyundi or Honda?

The two are acceptable, except "what" does not restrict the answerer's choices. In contrast, "which" forces the answerer to choose between what is given.

Another example:

What is your favourite colour?
Which is your favourite colour: Red, yellow, green, or blue?

What is your name?
Which is your name: Scott, James, Kevin, Tom, or Luke?

Again, the first is nonrestrictive, whereas the second is not. "Which" assumes a restriction, whereas "what" does not. The answerer to the first could say "purple" and "Lisa".

which is your favorite car company?
what TYPE of car do you like?

one could conclude from your examples that the choices have to be given in the question and i don't believe that to be true.

 

"one could conclude from your examples that the choices have to be given in the question and i don't believe that to be true."

No, the choices don't have to be given explicitly. However, the choices are presumed. For instance, if I were to ask someone his favourite letter of the alphabet, then I would say:

Which letter of the alphabet do you like best?

The reason is there are few letters in the alphabet and it's known by every speaker of the English language.

In contrast, if I were asking for his favourite number, I would ask:

What is your favourite number? There are infinite numbers, so it wouldn't be understood to the listener if I meant between 1 - 10, for example, unless I specified it by asking which or had a calender with numbers 1 - 31, for example.

If I were asking my sibling about what to wear, I could ask:

Which jacket should I wear today?

It would be appropriate because she knows my wardrobe and the finite number of jackets I have.

If I wanted to know someone's country of origin, I would ask:

"What is your country of origin," if I didn't have an idea where he might be from.

If I saw that he was Asian looking, then I would ask: Which country in Asia are you from? I could also ask, "What country in Asia are you from?"

You could also ask: Which is your favourite car company, since there are a very few number of car companies.

However, "What car brand and model do you drive?" would be appropriate since there are too many car brands driven, unless again I restricted the models and brands.

Another example would be if I were interested in knowing someone's favourite sports team. I would ask: What sports team is your favourite?

The reason again is, there are too many sports teams, and I have no idea what field of sports the answerer likes.

In contrast, I would ask: Which basketball team is your favourite? The answerer and I understand that there are just a handful to choose from.