0
Jigneshbharati Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

What

the thing or things that (used in specifying something).
"what we need is a commitment"

I saw the above definition for word " what" as a pronoun. Please could someone elaborate on its usage. Thank you
Jignesh.
  

Top answer

htm The term relative clause is avoided here because the construction can be considered a noun phrase consisting of relative clause fused with the antecedent (for example, what can be considered equivalent to that which) and thus is more than a relative clause. Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002).

— AlpheccaStars

  • htm The term relative clause is avoided here because the construction can be considered a noun phrase consisting of relative clause fused with the antecedent (for example, what can be considered equivalent to that which) and thus is more than a relative clause.
  • Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K.
  • (2002).
  • The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.
  • Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0
This is sometimes called a "fused relative construction."

Here are some references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_relative_clauses#Fused_relative_constructions

0
0
Jigneshbharaticould someone elaborate on its usage.
That is not [what Lucy said]. ~ That is not the thing that Lucy said.
[What we need] is a commitment. ~ The thing that we need is a commitment.
We can't always have [what we want]. ~ We can't always have the thing(s) that we want.
There is no doubt about [
0

Related Questions