C one another and each other

Tom and Ann looked at each other =

Tom looked at Ann and Ann looked at Tom

Both one another and each othercan be used of two or more, but each otheris frequently preferred when there are more than two.

6 Interrogatives:

wh-? words and how?

54 Interrogative adjectives and pronouns

For persons: subject who (pronoun)

object whom, who (pronoun)

possessive whose (pronoun and adjective)

For things: subject/object what (pronoun and adjective)

For persons or things when the choice is restricted:

subject/object which (pronoun and adjective)

The same form is used for singular and plural.

whatcan also be used for persons (see 58 D).

55 Affirmative verb after who, whoseetc. used as subjects

who, whose, which, whatwhen used as subjects are normally followed by an affirmative, not an interrogative, verb:

Who pays the bills^? (affirmative verb)

Whose/Which horse won? (affirmative verb)

What happened?/What went wrong? (affirmative verb, possible

answers: We missed the tram/had an accident.) But with who, whoseetc + be +noun or personal/distributive pronoun, an interrogative verb is used:

Who are you? Whose is this^? What is that noise? With who, whose etc. used as objects of a verb or preposition an interrogative verb is, of course, necessary.

Examples of the use of who, whom, whose, which and what

A who, whom, whose

whoas subject:

Who keeps the keys^? (affirmative verb)

Who took my gun^? (affirmative verb)

Who are these boys¹¹ (interrogative verb) who, whomas objects of a verb Normal English' Who did you see''' Very formal English' Whom did the committee appoint? whoseas subject.

Whose car broke down⁷¹ (affirmative verb)

Whose (books) are these^? (interrogative verb) whoseas object of a verb:

Whose umbrella did you borrow?

B which

whichas subject:

Which pigeon arrived first? (affirmative verb)

Which of them is the eldest? (affirmative verb) whichas object of a verb:

Which hand do you use? Which of these dates would you prefer?

C what

whatas subject:

What caused the explosion? (affirmative verb)

What kind of tree is that? (interrogative verb) whatas object of a verb:

What paper do you read? What did they eat?

57 who, whom, which and whatas objects of prepositions

A who, whom

In formal English we use preposition + whom:

With whom did you go? To whom were you speaking? But in ordinary English we usually move the preposition to the end of the sentence. The whomthen normally changes to who: Who did you go with? Who were you speaking to?

B which, what

In formal English we use preposition + which/what:

To which address did you send it?

On what do you base your theory? In informal English we move the preposition to the end of the sentence:

Which address did you send it to?

What do you base your theory on?

58 Uses of what

A whatis a general interrogative used for things: What bird is that? What makes that noise? What country do you come from? What did he say?

B what . . . for? means 'why?':

What did you do that for? = Why did you do that?

C what + be ... like?is a request for a description and can be used for things or people:

What was the exam like? ~ It was very difficult.

What was the weather like? ~ It was very windy.

What's the food like in your hostel? ~ It's quite good. Used of people it may concern either appearance or character:

He's short and fat and wears glasses.

He's a very talkative, friendly man. what does he/she/it look like?concerns appearance only, and can

also mean 'What does he/she/it resemble?':

What does she look like? ~ She is tall and glamorous. She looks like

a film star.

What does it look like? ~ It's black and shiny. It looks like coal.

D whatis he?means 'What is his profession?':

What is his father? ~ He is a tailor.

what(adjective) used for persons is not common: What students are you talking about? is possible, but Which students . . . ? would be much more usual.

E whatand howin questions about measurements

We can use what + age/depth/height/length/widthbut in

conversation it would be more usual to say how old/deep/high/tall/

Long/wide?

what size/weight?is usual when an exact answer is required,

though how big/heavy?is also possible.

What age are you?/What is your age?/How old are you?

What height is he?/What is his height?/How tall is he?

What is the weight of the parcel?/How heavy is it?

What size do you take in shoes?

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 912