whatever

Question

Kino stirred in his sleep and his wife’s eyes opened in the darkness. Then Kino awakened and lay with his ears alert. Then from the corner of his cottage came a sound so soft that it might have been simply a thought, a little stealthy movement, a touch of a foot on earth, the almost inaudible sound of controlled breathing. Kino held his breath to listen, and he knew that whatever dark thing was in his house was holding its breath too, to listen. For a time no sound at all came from the corner of his house.

Q1) What does "whatever" mean in the underline? Does it mean a possible person if it is combined with "dark thing?"

Q2)
1. Whatever decision he made I would support it.
I think the part of speech for "whatever" in #1 is either a conjunction or determiner.

Then, what is the part of the speech for "whatever" in the above underline?(a conjunction? a determiner?) (Isn't it hard to see it is a conjuction because the conjuction "that" already precedes it. )

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

moon7296Q1) What does "whatever" mean in the underline? Does it mean a possible person if it is combined with "dark thing?"

It means 'any possible unknown sentient being'.

moon7296Q2) 1. Whatever decision he made I would support it.I think the part of speech for "whatever" in #1 is either a conjunction or determiner

It's a determiner for 'decision'.

moon7296Then, what is the part of the speech for "whatever" in the above underline?(a conjunction? a determiner?

It's a determiner for '(dark) thing'.

Moon7296 · Answer

Mister MicawberIt's a determiner for 'decision'.

All I know about the function of a determiner is like this: My/a/the/ teacher is smart.
But I don't think we say this. [My teacher is smart] was good.

I was just wondering this "whatever" is a special determiner.

1. [whatever dark thing was in his house] was holding its breath too, to listen.
Well, it's hard for me to grasp the structure of in square brackets in #1.

It looks like this structure.
2. [The thing that was ins his house] was holding its breath too, to listen.

In #2, there is the relative pronoun "that" modifying 'the thing," which is understandable structure connected to the second "was."

Is there a way I can understand the structure of "whatever dark thing was in his house was" part in #1?

Mister Micawber · Answer

moon7296But I don't think we say this. [My teacher is smart] was good.

Yes, you are right; 'whatever' is different. Whatever (= that which) is a kind of pronoun or (here) determiner that can introduce relative clauses. They include whichever, whatever, whoever. I suppose that a noun, if used, changing the pronoun to a determiner, makes little real structural difference:

[Whatever dark thing was in his house] was holding its breath.
[Whatever was in his house] was holding its breath.
[Whoever was in his house] was holding his breath.
(X) [That which was in his house] was holding its breath. — This is grammatically correct but not really native; it does appear quite formally as an object relative, though:

He was afraid of [that which was in his house].

I had to look this stuff up. You can check it here: Quirk, et al., 6.35 note.

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you very much. I had no idea at all about this extended use of "whatever."

whatever

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