Why is there/what's

Question

What's causing me to have bad dreams?Why is there something causing me to have bad dreams?In what situation is the second sentence grammatically correct? And are both sentences somewhat equivalent to each other? Why?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Consider these typical answers to these questions.

What's causing me to have bad dreams?

Answer: Indigestion.

Answer: You have an elephant in your bed.

Why is there something causing me to have bad dreams? Note that a more natural form of this question is Why do I have bad dreams?

'Why' questions are typically answered with 'because' followed by a reason,

Answer: Because you eat dinner very late in the evening.

Answer: Because you have an elephant in your bed.

In what situation is the second sentence grammatically correct? I would say that a sentence is grammatically correct if it obeys all the rules of grammar. The question really is whether it makes sense to say that sentence in the given situation or context.

And are both sentences somewhat equivalent to each other? Yes, as I hope you can see from my examples.

Why? Because a reason is very similar to a cause.

Clive

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