interrogative determiners: which and what
We use "which" as a determiner to ask a question about a specific group of people or things:
Which restaurant did you go to?
Which countries in South America have you visited?
When we are asking a general question we use "what" as a determiner:
What films do you like?
What university did you go to?
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Hi friends.i am happy to join in this site.i hope that i will definitely gain momentum in english language fluency.may i ask one ? . why should we add s to the 3rd person singular's present tense verb? Is there any specific reason for this. please anyone answer me
Hi guys,
I have joined this website just a few days back and since I have found it very useful. However, please let me understand the meaning of "General" and "specific" in an easier way. I mean what is the limit of information to make something specific or general.
I shall be needing your help every now and then.
Thanks
Shehryar
Hello Shehryar!
Welcome to the site, and I'm glad you've find it useful. Generally, a good place to start is the Cambridge Online Dictionary. You'll find a search box on all our pages.
In answer to your specific question, however, look at these two statements:
general: Students often find English difficult (Which students? What difficulties?)
specific: My Taiwanese students often say the tense system is the most difficult part of English. (these students this difficulty.)
Does that help?
Best wishes
Jeremy Bee
The Learn English Team
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Good morning Adam
I don’t understand why the question “which restaurant did you go to?” is written with which, don’t you think that’s too general and that’s why we also may use “what” just like: “what restaurant did you go to?”?.
Thank you.
Hello Carlos,
I think which is the better choice here because when we ask someone about a restaurant they went to, we have information about the occasion, their budget and area. So, we are asking them about restaurants within a limited range.
However, I think you'd find that many native speakers nowadays use what more often than which.
Regards,
Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much Mr. Jones.