Language/English/Grammar/Common-Mistake-What-That

2019-04-28T11:02:04Z

CranberrySalad: grammar

[[File:What-vs-that-common-mistake-english.jpg|thumb]]
<div style="font-size:200%;">"What" vs. "That"</div>

One common mistake among many English learners is using "what" and "that" interchangeably in the middle of the sentence. Many English learners, especially learners whose first language is Spanish, struggle to learn the difference. The word "that" should be used to introduce clauses, whereas "what" should be used when it is the object of the clause you will introduce.

Let us take the following examples about someone choosing between two classes in college:

* Mary liked '''that''' the professor of the chemistry course was very nice.
* Mary liked '''what''' her friends said about the biology course.
While the words "that" and "what" may seem to fill an identical role, they are very different. In the first example, "that" is not the object of the clause it introduces. It's role is only to introduce clauses. On the other hand, in the second sentence, "what" is the object of what Mary's friends said. Mary's friends said '''<u>something</u>''' about the biology course. The sentence doesn't tell us '''<u>what</u>''' was said, only that Mary liked it. Note the following example:
* Mary liked '''that''' her friends said <u>good things</u> about the biology course.
In this case, the object of what her friends said is "good things," not "that". Also note that Mary doesn't like the "good things," Mary likes that <u>her friends said good things</u>. In this sentence, she values her friends opinions, not only the information itself. If we wanted to say that Mary liked the "good things," we would say:
* Mary liked '''the good things''' her friends said about the biology course.
Now Mary likes "the good things" her friends said. Note that "the good things" is the object of both what Mary liked and what her friends said. Lastly, if we wanted to replace the "the good things" with a pronoun, we would use.... "what."
* Mary liked '''what''' her friends said about the biology course.
And that is the key difference between "that" and "what."

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Language/English/Grammar/Common-Mistake-What-That