English Language & Usage Asked by vlashel on August 28, 2021
For example, in a sentence like:
The weather is getting warm, what indicates of the Spring approaching.
I feel that the usage of ‘what’ here is incorrect, and the appropriate way to say it would be:
The weather is getting warm, it is an indication of the Spring approaching.
Could you explain why using ‘what’ here is grammaticly incorrect and are there other words to replace ‘what’ in order to create a reference from one part of the sentence to the other?
Using what as a relative pronoun, in this way, is a frequent error, made in some regional dialects e.g. Cockney.
It's the Sun wot won it was a famous banner headline in the Sun newspaper, following the Conservatives' unexpected victory in the 1992 General Election. It mimics the way some working-class Cockneys speak.
There are circumstances in which what is correctly used as a relative pronoun in standard English, where it refers to the things which. But as this grammar linkindicates, it should not be used to refer to a preceding noun.
Correct answer by WS2 on August 28, 2021
The answer is that you cannot use 'what' correctly in that context.
As to why this is not an appropriate use of the word 'what', I will leave that to a linguist.
You can use 'which'.
The weather is getting warm, which indicates spring is approaching. (the truth value of this statement is debatable)
Answered by HellishHeat on August 28, 2021
What indicates that spring is approaching? Warm weather, chicks, flowers popping up, my calendar flipping to March, people wearing short pants, days being longer. Many things.
But if you say "the weather is warm" that shrinks the possibility space from infinite to just that one thing. Not that that one thing exclusively indicates spring, but it's the only thing in the sentence, and thus the only thing in the sentence that the second part of the sentence can point back at.
"Which" is used for a smaller amount and absolutely certain things. Like I already mentioned, the second part of the sentence points back to the first part, so you've only got 1 thing to 'choose' from.
There are a few other errors in your sentence. I'd rewrite it as one of the following:
The weather is getting warm, which indicates that Spring is approaching.
The weather is getting warm, which is indicative of Spring approaching.
I'd personally go with the first, as it's more direct.
Answered by PixelSnader on August 28, 2021
I believe you can I if you split the sentence into two statements. Such as, “The weather is getting warm. What indicates spring is approaching.” What used as ‘the thing that’. The thing being the process. What, refers to the entire meaning behind the first sentence. Hence, “The weather is getting warm. What (The process that) indicates spring is approaching.”
Answered by Ross Stivactas on August 28, 2021
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