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For example, in a sentence like:

The weather is getting warm, what indicates of the Spring approaching.

I feel that the usage of 'what' here is incorrect, and the appropriate way to say it would be:

The weather is getting warm, it is an indication of the Spring approaching.

Could you explain why using 'what' here is grammaticly incorrect and are there other words to replace 'what' in order to create a reference from one part of the sentence to the other?

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4 Answers 4

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Using what as a relative pronoun, in this way, is a frequent error, made in some regional dialects e.g. Cockney.

It's the Sun wot won it was a famous banner headline in the Sun newspaper, following the Conservatives' unexpected victory in the 1992 General Election. It mimics the way some working-class Cockneys speak.

There are circumstances in which what is correctly used as a relative pronoun in standard English, where it refers to the things which. But as this grammar linkindicates, it should not be used to refer to a preceding noun.

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    Correction: using "what" as a relative pronoun is a feature of some dialects, but not of standard English. There is no necessary association with literary skills.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 10:32
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    @ColinFine Yes, I apologise for that and have edited. Undoubtedly it was a reflection of my petit-bourgeois 1950s' grammar-school mindset. You will see I have also edited to include circumstances in which what is correctly used as a relative pronoun.
    – WS2
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 10:39
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    Excellent linked article; Nordquist explains about the usage that is standard: 'In English grammar, a free relative clause is a type of relative clause (that is, a word group beginning with a wh-word) that contains the antecedent within itself. Also called a nominal relative clause, a fused relative construction, an independent relative clause, or (in traditional grammar) a noun clause.' [I don't know what really happened/ what they're doing]
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 14:31
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I believe you can I if you split the sentence into two statements. Such as, “The weather is getting warm. What indicates spring is approaching.” What used as ‘the thing that’. The thing being the process. What, refers to the entire meaning behind the first sentence. Hence, “The weather is getting warm. What (The process that) indicates spring is approaching.”

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"What" is about (near) infinite amount of possibilities.

What indicates that spring is approaching? Warm weather, chicks, flowers popping up, my calendar flipping to March, people wearing short pants, days being longer. Many things.

But if you say "the weather is warm" that shrinks the possibility space from infinite to just that one thing. Not that that one thing exclusively indicates spring, but it's the only thing in the sentence, and thus the only thing in the sentence that the second part of the sentence can point back at.

Use "which" instead.

"Which" is used for a smaller amount and absolutely certain things. Like I already mentioned, the second part of the sentence points back to the first part, so you've only got 1 thing to 'choose' from.

Your sentence, improved.

There are a few other errors in your sentence. I'd rewrite it as one of the following:

The weather is getting warm, which indicates that Spring is approaching.

The weather is getting warm, which is indicative of Spring approaching.

I'd personally go with the first, as it's more direct.

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  • No. You're arguing on semantic grounds. But "what" is ungrammatical there in standard English. This is a syntactic, not a semantic, issue.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 17:26
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The answer is that you cannot use 'what' correctly in that context.

As to why this is not an appropriate use of the word 'what', I will leave that to a linguist.

You can use 'which'.

The weather is getting warm, which indicates spring is approaching. (the truth value of this statement is debatable)

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  • That down vote happened as soon as I clicked submit. So the person who down voted did not read my answer. I will suspect the next guy to answer.
    – HellishHeat
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 7:20
  • The second downvote is mine; though your first sentence is correct, it needs support to be acceptable, rather than 'I'll let someone else do most of the work because I can't'. And 'I will suspect the next guy to answer.' sounds unacceptable.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 7:54
  • respectfully disagree with the motivation of your down vote. I clearly answered this part of the question "are there other words to replace 'what' in order to create a reference from one part of the sentence to the other".
    – HellishHeat
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 8:58
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    @HellishHeat Just because an answer addresses the question doesn't mean it shouldn't be downvoted. A downvote expresses "This answer is not useful.", which is a fair response to an answer that doesn't explain the reasoning behind it.
    – SuperBiasedMan
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 10:38
  • @SuperBiasedMan I'd have had to spend a lot of time coming up with a response half as good as yours here. Thank you.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 6, 2016 at 14:23

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