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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #1
What's the difference between saying "What is your favourite day of the week?" and "Which is your favourite day of the week?"
I know I can use "which" when there is a limited set of possibilities, so is it better to use "which" in that context?
Uncle Jack
Senior Member
Cumbria, UK
British English
- Dec 24, 2017
- #2
As a speaker of British English, I would use 'which' for preference, but British speakers also use 'what' and there is no difference in meaning.
British speakers sometimes use 'which' where American speakers do not, and I don't know if this is one of those situations.
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #3
Uncle Jack said:
As a speaker of British English, I would use 'which' for preference, but British speakers also use 'what' and there is no difference in meaning.
British speakers sometimes use 'which' where American speakers do not, and I don't know if this is one of those situations.
So you think it's better to use 'which' instead of 'what' in "What/which is your favourite day of the week", right?
Uncle Jack
Senior Member
Cumbria, UK
British English
- Dec 24, 2017
- #4
Yes, but only mildly so.
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #5
Uncle Jack said:
Yes, but only mildly so.
What do you mean by "mildly"?
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Dec 24, 2017
- #6
gabriel001234 said:
What's the difference between saying "What is your favourite day of the week?" and "Which is your favourite day of the week?"
I know I can use "which" when there is a limited set of possibilities, so is it better to use "which" in that context?
It's not better, particularly. Note that you start your post with the contraction "What's" but then use "What is" in your example. In practice, most people would probably ask "What's your favourite day of the week?", if only because it's shorter! There's no need to use "which" simply because there are only seven days to choose from – unless you rephrase it as e.g. "Which of the days of the week is your favourite?".
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #7
lingobingo said:
It's not better, particularly. Note that you start your post with the contraction "What's" but then use "What is" in your example. In practice, most people would probably ask "What's your favourite day of the week?", if only because it's shorter! There's no need to use "which" simply because there are only seven days to choose from – unless you rephrase it as e.g. "Which of the days of the week is your favourite?".
But many English guidelines say we should use "which" instead of "what" when there is a limited number of possibilites. If there are only seven days to choose from, why shouldn't I use "which"?
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Uncle Jack
Senior Member
Cumbria, UK
British English
- Dec 24, 2017
- #8
gabriel001234 said:
What do you mean by "mildly"?
Very slightly.
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #9
Let me make another question: if I use "what", I can expect a great number of possible answers (e.g. "Tuesday", "everyday", "Sunday and Saturday", "None of them", "Wednesday", "Monday and Friday"), right?
If I use "which", a limited choice of options is implied (Online Poll - "Which is your favorite day of the week? Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or other days?"), right?
Also, should I use "what" to ask someone's opinion on something/preferences? ("Favourite day", "best car", "most amazing thing in the world")
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Dec 24, 2017
- #10
gabriel001234 said:
But many English guidelines say we should use "which" instead of "what" when there is a limited number of possibilites. If there are only seven days to choose from, why shouldn't I use "which"?
I didn't say you shouldn't use it. What I said was there's no reason to think you
shoulduse it in preference to "what"!
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #11
lingobingo said:
I didn't say you shouldn't use it. What I said was there's no reason to think you
shoulduse it in preference to "what"!
But there is a limited set of possibilities. Why shouldn't I use it in preference to "what"?
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Dec 24, 2017
- #12
I think you may have misunderstood the guidance. If you try to impose a rule on yourself that you must always use which when the choice is limited, you will get things wrong. Which is necessary when a limited choice is
specificallybeing offered.
Which of these five flowers do you prefer? Which member of this boy band is your favourite? Which of your parents smokes?
What is your favourite flower/movie/writer/TV show? What kind of house do you live in?
What/Which is your favourite Bond movie?
And sometimes even a limited choice is more idiomatic with "what":
What colour are your eyes? What colour is your hair?
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #13
lingobingo said:
I think you may have misunderstood the guidance. If you try to impose a rule on yourself that you must always use which when the choice is limited, you will get things wrong. Which is necessary when a limited choice is
specificallybeing offered.
Which of these five flowers do you prefer? Which member of this boy band is your favourite? Which of your parents smokes?
What is your favourite flower/movie/writer/TV show? What kind of house do you live in?
What/Which is your favourite Bond movie?And sometimes even a limited choice is more idiomatic with "what":
What colour are your eyes? What colour is your hair?
So which should be used only when a limited set of choices is specified/implied, right?
Also, is "what" used to ask a general question for which we can expect a great number of possible answers?
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gabriel001234
Senior Member
Brazil
Brazilian Portuguese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #14
lingobingo said:
I think you may have misunderstood the guidance. If you try to impose a rule on yourself that you must always use which when the choice is limited, you will get things wrong. Which is necessary when a limited choice is
specificallybeing offered.
Which of these five flowers do you prefer? Which member of this boy band is your favourite? Which of your parents smokes?
What is your favourite flower/movie/writer/TV show? What kind of house do you live in?
What/Which is your favourite Bond movie?And sometimes even a limited choice is more idiomatic with "what":
What colour are your eyes? What colour is your hair?
Also, when I say "Which is your favourite Bond movie?", there needs to be a limited choice being specifically offered, right? But when I say "What's your favourite Bond movie?", this is just a general question, and there is no limited choice being specifically offered, right?
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lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Dec 24, 2017
- #15
gabriel001234 said:
So which should be used only when a limited set of choices is specified/implied, right?
Not
only, no, although which does have to be used when a limited set of choices is specified or implied, as in my examples in #12. And the difference between generality and specificity is important, but not always restrictive – sometimes it does just boil down to a matter of choice:
What is your favourite Bond movie? / Which is your favourite Bond movie?
What Bond movie is your favourite? / Which Bond movie is your favourite?
Similarly, if you ask someone "What day is it?", that's idiomatic so they'll automatically assume that you mean today and therefore answer, for example, "It's Sunday". But if you ask the same question in the form "Which day is it?", they might not be so sure what you mean because that rather begs the question, which day is what? — “Which day is the meeting?” — “It's next Tuesday.”
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brighthope
Senior Member
Toronto, Canada
Japanese
- Dec 24, 2017
- #16
I live in an apartment in a high-rise building (in Canada) and when I get on the elevator, if someone is already inside he/she often asks me which floor button to press for me and I hear "what floor?" more often than "which floor?" When "Which" is used, it is often "which one?" I use "which floor?" in these (and reversed) situations and have been wondering about it.
As Uncle Jack mentioned in the beginning, could it have anything to do with the difference between AmE & BrE?
lingobingo
Senior Member
London
English - England
- Dec 24, 2017
- #17
In short, yes – where there's a choice of which/what word to use!
dojibear
Senior Member
Fresno CA
English (US - northeast)
- Dec 24, 2017
- #18
brighthope said:
As Uncle Jack mentioned in the beginning, could it have anything to do with the difference between AmE & BrE?
Yes. In AmE we use "what" more often.
gabriel001234 said:
What's the difference between saying "What is your favourite day of the week?" and "Which is your favourite day of the week?"
I would not use "which" in a phrase starting "Which is your...". I would use "which" attached to a noun, but not by itself:
- Which one is your favorite?
- Which day is your favorite?
- What is your favorite day?
In the elevator example, I would probably say "what floor" but "which floor" is almost the same to me.
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brighthope
Senior Member
Toronto, Canada
Japanese
- Dec 25, 2017
- #19
lingobingo said:
In short, yes – where there's a choice of which/what word to use!
dojibear said:
Yes. In AmE we use "what" more often.
dojibear said:
In the elevator example, I would probably say "what floor" but "which floor" is almost the same to me.
Thank you both for clearing it up
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