What is the difference between these two sentences?
"We’re never satisfied, never stop craving for more than we have".
and
"We’re never satisfied, never stop craving for more than what we have".
Thank you
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3They mean the same thing, though I cannot figure out off the top of my head why exactly the what is optional here. I’m fairly sure it’s optional in more or less all Western European languages, though—it seems to work equally well in both French (“plus que [ce qu’]on a”), Spanish (“más que [lo que] tenemos”), Scandiwegian (“mer än [vad] vi har/mere end [hvad] vi har”), and I think also German and Dutch. Even (sort of) in the Celtic ones; e.g., in Irish, you can do both “níos mó ná mar atá againn” and “níos mó ná an méid atá againn”, though the structure differs a bit there.– Janus Bahs JacquetCommented Oct 8, 2017 at 11:45
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Related: that which vs what.– Edwin AshworthCommented Oct 8, 2017 at 15:11
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Please do not thank @JanusBahsJacquet for violating the specific injunction in the comment box not to use it to answer questions. How do you know he is correct? If he had written a proper answer it would have been subject to the possibility of down-voting as well as up-voting, and explanatory comments. Then you and others can judge. If others take the trouble to subject their views to scrutiny according to the SE model, their answers deserve your attention, not his comments.– DavidCommented May 7, 2018 at 18:33
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@David What I wrote is most certainly not an answer. If I had written that as an answer, I would have expected it to be flagged as “not an answer” and converted to a comment. A statement that essentially says “I don’t know” is not by any means an answer on SE, even if it does qualify that statement with “but it seems to work the same elsewhere”.– Janus Bahs JacquetCommented May 7, 2018 at 19:18
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@JanusBahsJacquet — It neither asks for more information or suggests improvements. It starts with the explicit answer "They mean the same thing." What you wrote is certainly an answer and certainly against the injunction in the comment box.– DavidCommented May 7, 2018 at 19:22
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1 Answer
"We’re never satisfied, never stop craving for more than we have". This refers to the amount they crave.
"We’re never satisfied, never stop craving for more than what we have". This refers to their belongings they crave for.
