“What day is it today?” vs. “What day is today?”

Question

Which of the following is grammatical?

What date/day is it today?

What date/day is today?

They’re used in different ways. If you’ve simply forgotten what day of the week or day of the month it is, say 'What day is it today?' If you want to confront your husband, wife or partner over forgetting your anniversary, say 'What day is today? See if you can remember.'

advait · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-12 07:29:02Z

Both are correct, and it may help to think of them in terms of the statements that answer them.

The simpler form "What day is today?" is answered by "Today is X"

The more common "What day is it today?" is answered by "It is X today", where "it" is a pleonastic pronoun.

Lunivore · Answer 2 · 2012-09-12 07:06:10Z

up vote 6 down vote

They are both gramatically correct.

However, these are more idiomatic, at least in the UK:

What day is it today?
What day are we on? (I've lost track.)
What's today's date?

answered Sep 12 '12 at 7:06

Lunivore
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2 Answers