What is the difference between what and how?
what | how |
(interrogative) Which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.
(relative, nonstandard) That; which.
* 1902 , , (The Admirable Crichton) :
(relative) That which; those that; the thing that.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= In some manner or degree; in part; partly; usually followed by with .
Such.
(label) Why?
* (rfdate) (Chaucer)
* (rfdate) (John Milton)
Used to introduce each of two coordinate phrases or concepts; both…and.
* :
* 1605 Wm. Shakespeare, King Lear
(British, colloquial, dated) Is that not true?
Which; which kind of.
How much; how great (used in an exclamation).
(obsolete) something; thing; stuff
* Spenser
To what degree.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
In what manner.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=
In what state.
The means by which something is accomplished.
* 1924 , Joseph Rickaby, Studies on God and His Creatures? , p. 102:
In which way; in such way.
That, the fact that, the way that.
* 2010 April 24, Jesse McKinley, “
(dialectal) An artificial barrow or tumulus.
(dialectal) A small hill in northern England. (Usage preserved mainly in place names.)
How is a conjunction of what.
As adverbs the difference between what and how
is that what is in some manner or degree; in part; partly; usually followed by with while how is to what degree.As interjections the difference between what and how
is that what is An expression of surprise or disbelief.how is A greeting, used in representations of Native American speech.As nouns the difference between what and how
is that what is something; thing; stuff while how is the means by which something is accomplished.As a pronoun what
is which thing, event, circumstance, etc.: used interrogatively in asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc.As a determiner what
is which; which kind of.As a conjunction how is
in which way; in such way.what
English
(wikipedia what)Pronoun
(English Pronouns)- That’s her; that’s the thing what has stole his heart from me.
The tao of tech, passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast […, or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",
Adverb
(-)- What should I tell the answer of the knight?
- But what do I stand reckoning upon advantages and gains lost by the misrule and turbulency of the prelates?
- 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 and ' what by land / tyl that they came nyghe vnto london
Synonyms
* suchInterjection
(en interjection)- What , have his daughters brought him to this pass?
- What ! That’s amazing.
- It’s a nice day, what'''?'' (sometimes repeated, e.g.: '''''What'''-'''what ? )
Determiner
(en determiner)- What shirt are you going to wear?
- What time is it?
- What kind of car is that?
- What talent he has!
- What a talent!
Derived terms
* wat * what ho * whatness * what's whatNoun
(-)- They prayd him sit, and gave him for to feed / Such homely what as serves the simple clowne, / That doth despise the dainties of the towne
Statistics
*how
English
(wikipedia how)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), (etyl) . /hw/ > /h/ due to in (etyl); compare (m), which underwent this change later, and thus is spelt ''wh ((etyl) spelling of /hw/) but pronounced /h/ (it previously had a different vowel, hence avoided the spelling and sound change in Old English). Vowel change per Great Vowel Shift. Akin to (etyl) (m) ((etyl) (m)), . See (m) and compare (m).Adverb
(-)Boundary problems, passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
- How are you?
- How was your vacation?
Usage notes
* See usage notes on else. * How good is it?'' means "To what extent is it good?", whereas ''How is it good?'' means "In what manner is it good?". Likewise, ''I know how good it is'' means "I know the extent to which it is good", whereas ''I know how it is good means "I know the manner in which it is good".Derived terms
* how many * how much * how come * how so * know-howNoun
(en noun)- I am not interested in the why, but in the how .
- It is an a posteriori argument, evincing the fact, but not the how .
Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)- I remember how to solve this puzzle.
Don’t Call It ‘Pot’ in This Circle; It’s a Profession]”, in [[w:The New York Times, The New York Times], page A1:
- “There’s this real Al Capone fear that they’re going to get our guys, not on marijuana, but on something else,” Mr. Edson said, referring to how Capone was eventually charged with tax evasion rather than criminal activity.
