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Stenka25 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
How vs. what
The sentence below is from a text for preparation for college entrance exam.
Costumed characters roam the grounds to present old-time medicine shows or other depictions of how life used to be, or at least (B)[how / what] we imagine it was.
You can check out the whole question in this website.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22Costumed+characters+roam+the+grounds+to+present+old-time+medicine+shows%22&oq=%22Costumed+characters+roam+the+grounds+to+present+old-time+medicine+shows%22&gs_l=hp.3...2376.3690.1.3974.3.3.0.0.0.0.77.186.3.3.0...0.0...1c.948gY95UOOM&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=3048824bec959464&biw=798&bih=454
In the sentence the answer for the two alternatives given in the answer sheet is “how.” And I am OK with the answer since “how” agrees better with “how life used to be” than “what.”
But I don’t see why “what” cannot be in this place. Even though “how” is much better than “what,” if there is ever 1% possibility of “what” being able to be used in this place it’s sensible that the test question doesn’t hold it’s availability.
What do you think of my train of thought?
We can’t never use “what” in that context?
Costumed characters roam the grounds to present old-time medicine shows or other depictions of how life used to be, or at least (B)[how / what] we imagine it was.
You can check out the whole question in this website.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22Costumed+characters+roam+the+grounds+to+present+old-time+medicine+shows%22&oq=%22Costumed+characters+roam+the+grounds+to+present+old-time+medicine+shows%22&gs_l=hp.3...2376.3690.1.3974.3.3.0.0.0.0.77.186.3.3.0...0.0...1c.948gY95UOOM&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=3048824bec959464&biw=798&bih=454
In the sentence the answer for the two alternatives given in the answer sheet is “how.” And I am OK with the answer since “how” agrees better with “how life used to be” than “what.”
But I don’t see why “what” cannot be in this place. Even though “how” is much better than “what,” if there is ever 1% possibility of “what” being able to be used in this place it’s sensible that the test question doesn’t hold it’s availability.
What do you think of my train of thought?
We can’t never use “what” in that context?
Top answer
Costumed characters roam the grounds to present old-time medicine shows or other depictions of how life used to be, or at least (B)[ how / what ] we imagine it was. Note the previous use of how . The parallel construction is "how A or how B".
- Costumed characters roam the grounds to present old-time medicine shows or other depictions of how life used to be, or at least (B)[ how / what ] we imagine it was.
- Note the previous use of how .
- The parallel construction is "how A or how B".
- What is not a good choice.
- Note that "it" in the second clause refers to "life" in the first clause.
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1 Answers
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Costumed characters roam the grounds to present old-time medicine shows or other depictions of how life used to be, or at least (B)[how / what] we imagine it was.
Note the previous use of how.
The parallel construction is "how A or how B". What is not a good choice. Note that "it" in the second clause refers to "life
Note the previous use of how.
The parallel construction is "how A or how B". What is not a good choice. Note that "it" in the second clause refers to "life
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