I didn't understand
what
he was saying.
(
the things that
he was saying)
Is this
what
you want?
(
the thing that
you want)
What is different from the other relative pronouns in that it does not refer back to a noun:
I wrote my essay on
a photo which
was taken by Robert Capa.
(
which
refers to
a photo
)
That's not
what
we agreed on.
(
what
does not refer to a noun)
For this reason, what can't be used instead of who, whom, whose, which or that in relative clauses:
I wrote my essay on
a photo *what / which
was taken by Robert Capa.
When in doubt, replace what with the thing(s) that/which and see if the sentence is still grammatically correct.
Quotes:
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein
The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do. - Author unknown
Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared. - Edward Vernon Rickenbacker
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. - Erica Jong
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. - Jim Rohn
What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee. - Marcus Aurelius
What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want. - Mignon McLaughlin
What we call results are beginnings. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is the familiar that usually eludes us in life. What is before our nose is what we see last. - William Barret
Related topics:
Defining relative clause
Pseudo-cleft sentences
WHATEVER, WHOEVER, WHICHEVER, WHEREVER, WHENEVER
whatever
»
anything that
whoever
»
anyone who
whichever
»
any ... which
wherever
»
at any place
whenever
»
at any time
You can do
whatever
you want to.
Whoever
leaves last should turn off the lights.
Choose
whichever pencil
you like.
Wherever
I looked there was something interesting to see.
Whenever
I go abroad, I take as many pictures as possible.
It is possible to use what instead of whatever in the first sentence above, but it is not possible to use who instead of whoever in the second sentence:
You can do
what
you want to.
*
Who
leaves last should turn off the lights.
Quotes:
Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you. - Spanish proverb
Related topics:
Defining relative clause
Emphasis and relative clauses
Cleft sentences
Pseudo-cleft sentences
Cleft sentences
IT + BE + PHRASE + DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE
Cleft sentences (also called it-clefts) result from changing the normal sentence pattern to emphasise a particular piece of information. The emphasis in the resulting cleft sentence is on the phrase after it + be.
Look at the following example:
János Irinyi invented the non-explosive match in 1836.
We can transform this sentence in different ways depending on which part of it we want to bring into focus:
It was János Irinyi who/that
invented the non-explosive match in 1836.
It was the non-explosive match which/that/(-)
János Irinyi invented in 1836.
It was 1836 when
János Irinyi invented the non-explosive match.
In the clauses that follow it + be + phrase, we can use the same relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why) that we normally use in defining relative clauses.
However, if we bring a whole adverbial phrase into focus, we use that:
It was in 1836 that
János Irinyi invented the non-explosive match.
If we use a personal pronoun after it + be, it will be in the object form:
It was him who
invented the non-explosive match in 1836.
It is also possible to expand the phrase in focus with a non-defining relative clause:
It was János Irinyi,
who was a Hungarian chemist
, that invented the non-explosive match in 1836.
Quotes:
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. - A. K. Best
It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. - Hanoch McCarty
It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. - Marlene Dietrich
It is the familiar that usually eludes us in life. What is before our nose is what we see last. - William Barret
Related topics:
Defining relative clause
Pseudo-cleft sentences
WHAT-CLAUSE + BE + PHRASE
Pseudo-cleft sentences (also called wh-clefts) are similar in function to cleft sentences, but they are formed with the pronoun what (= the thing(s) that/which). The emphasis in a pseudo-cleft sentence is on the phrase after the what-clause + be: