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Believer Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

what or which

I sometimes have difficulty in deciding which determiner, which or what, to use for some sentential situations, like these.

What month is it? Which month is it?

What school are you attending now? Which school are you attending now?

The general guideline in respect to this seems to be that when there are several alternatives or there are several choices to choose from, it is likely that the use of the determiner "which" appropriate eventhough this particular situation doesn't negate the usage of the determiner "what."

Do you have some clear guidelines?
  

Top answer

Believer I sometimes have difficulty in deciding which determiner, which or what, to use for some sentential situations, like these. What month is it? Which month is it?

— Philip

  • Believer I sometimes have difficulty in deciding which determiner, which or what, to use for some sentential situations, like these.
  • What month is it?
  • Which month is it?
  • What school are you attending now?
  • Which school are you attending now?
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16 Answers
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BelieverI sometimes have difficulty in deciding which determiner, which or what, to use for some sentential situations, like these.

What month is it? Which month is it?

What school are you attending now? Which school are you attending now?

The general guideline in respect to this seems to be that when there are several alternatives or th
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what identifies.
which selects.

When there are a large number of possibilities that can be the answer, you are usually asking "what".
When there are a number of possibilities, usually a smaller number, known to the participants in the conversation, and under consideration, you are usually asking the listener to choose, and therefore asking "which".

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CalifJimwhat identifies.
which selects.
These are certainly the 'clear guidlines' that Believer asked for. Thanks!
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I agree. CalifJim judiciously selected and identified the essential elements and summarized in a couple-of-paragraph format. Outstanding, indeed.
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Clear and simple; very useful

Thanks
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Excellent, very clear.

Thanks.

Vivian
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Thank you for your help!
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How about this one:

"...shows images for which emails were sent and which were not."

Is that correct? Thanks.
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Anonymous"...shows images for which emails were sent and which were not."
It's correct, but it may require two readings. (which ones were sent and which ones were not)

"Which" has more than one usage, and ". . . . shows images for which" wants to lead us down a different path.
Eg, . . . . shows images for which there is n
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