My teacher said that this idiom would never be told by an American and is British English. What is an alternative way to say this in American English?
4 Answers
Who could ask for anything more ?, surely. (I Got rhythm. I. Gershwin)
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3I've heard answers given to the 'British' version, but this one is as rhetorical as it gets. Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 10:22
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1(Well, Madonna could, for one.)[youtube.com/watch?v=YqeoSUY6Qws]– 1006aCommented Nov 21, 2016 at 20:39
I believe your teacher is wrong. I am an American and "What more could one ask for?" sounds perfectly natural, if a bit formal. This is not one of those idioms that comes in one form that everyone uses consistently. You can substitute "anyone" or "you" or "a person" (for instance) in place of "one", and you could substitute "want" or "wish for" (again, just as examples) instead of "ask for".
I think its the "one" construction that would be highly unusual in colloquial American English. Rephrase it without that and you are probably OK. For example, I'm pretty sure I've heard "What more could anybody ask for?"
I've also heard @convoke's "What more could you want?", as well as "What more could you/anyone need?"
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4I don't think 'one' is much more cmmon in colloquial British English! Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 14:18
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@Colin: there's a use of "one" when it means a certain specific person (for example, me), which sounds very British to me. But as a general pronoun, not so much. See Ngram. Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 14:21
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2@PeterShor, there's colloquial and colloquial. There are people for whom 'one' is in everyday speech. But many people would only ever use 'one' if they were trying to sound upper class, for whatever reason. Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 14:32
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4Agreed, "one" is slowly falling out of general use in British English. Most people would say "I've got a room with a view. What more could you ask for?". (That is, "you" rather than "one"). But "no-one" is still current: "No-one could ask for anything more". Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 15:30
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1I mean, just "what more could you ask for?" is probably fine.– CaseyCommented Nov 21, 2016 at 19:21
Lots of Gershwin jokes in here... but colloquially, I'd say "What more could you want?"
couldn't ask for morein TFD. It is cited as coming fromMcGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., so should be reasonably American in usage.