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Hans51 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

What / how about?

"What about" can never be a short version of "What do you think about"?
"How about" can never be a short version of "How do you feel about"?

Here in my country, we have learned that they are short versions of them but I think it is not true. So I would like to hear from native English speakers. What do you think?

Thank you so much in advance.
  

Top answer

In the right context there is no reason why those cannot be short versions. "

— GPY

  • In the right context there is no reason why those cannot be short versions.
  • "
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4 Answers
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In the right context there is no reason why those cannot be short versions. For example,

"What do you think about this dress?"
"Um ..."
"What about this one?" (= "What do you think about this one?")

Similarly for "How about...?"
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Thank you so much and how about this one?

A : I’d like to start a business.
B : But what about the costs?

"What about Eileen? Shouldn't we invite her too?"

I don't think this is a short version of "what do you think about", considering meaning. "What about" has more meanings than "what do you think about", then?
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"What do you think about the costs?" does not fit that context.

In the second example, "What do you think about Eileen?" could fit. It's not asking for an opinion of Eileen as a person, though. Instead it is more like "What do you think we should do regarding Eileen?" or "What do you think about inviting Eileen?"
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Hans51I would like to hear from native English speakers. What do you think?
Here's a post on this topic that I made some time ago. Take a look if you haven't already seen it. It might help a little.



CJ
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