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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Which vs. What

Hi,

Is there a certain time to use which and what?

Can you use which to specify more than one quantity?

"Which books do you like?"

Or do you use "What books do you like?"

Thank you!
  

Top answer

Which vs. what is a bit of a tricky question. "Which" is used when there are a finite number of choices.

— CSnyder

  • Which vs.
  • what is a bit of a tricky question.
  • "Which" is used when there are a finite number of choices.
  • " "What", on the other hand, is used when there are many or infinite choices.
  • " So in your example, if you were asking about, say, the books on a particular shelf, you'd use "which".
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5 Answers
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Which vs. what is a bit of a tricky question. "Which" is used when there are a finite number of choices. For example, if I showed you three pairs of pants and wanted to know your preference among them, I would ask you "Which pair do you like best?" "What", on the other hand, is used when there are many or infinite choices. If I wanted to know your favorite color, I'd say "What's your favorite
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That helped a lot! Thanks so much for explaining it to me!
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Hi,

I know that CalifJim (one of the moderators in the forum) loves to define this matter as follows: what identifies; which selects. You might want to look at other examples by searching for which vs. what in the forum.

Regards
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What is the capital of India vs which is the capital of India?

Which one of the two is correct?and why?thank you!

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BBC Radio 4 has a quiz / panel show discussing films. It really grates on me when they ask, for example, “What film starred <insert famous actor name> as an old sea captain who couldn’t swim?” rather than “Which film...”
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