What vs which?

[mudskipper]

Every time I see a poll - e.g. what Porsche do you drive? my inner voice tells me that it should be which.

I can't find any nice website that explains it succinctly, but I would always go for which if presenting a set of options to choose from.

Am I right, or is what perfectly acceptable?

Poll to follow.

[SupremeSpod]

Every time I see a poll - e.g. what Porsche do you drive? my inner voice tells me that it should be which.

I can't find any nice website that explains it succinctly, but I would always go for which if presenting a set of options to choose from.

Am I right, or is what perfectly acceptable?

Poll to follow.

AtW is Russian, English isn't his first language so might I suggest, nicely, THAT YOU GET OFF HIS BACK BITCH!

[BrilloPad]

AtW is Russian, English isn't his first language so might I suggest, nicely, THAT YOU GET OFF HIS BACK BITCH!

What language is his first?

[SupremeSpod]

What language is his first?

Gibberish?
Bollocks?
Crap?

[mudskipper]

AtW is Russian, English isn't his first language so might I suggest, nicely, THAT YOU GET OFF HIS BACK BITCH!

Not just AtW - most of the polls have a what rather than a which. Don't think it's necessarily incorrect - just doesn't sound right to me.

What language is his first?

[BrilloPad]

just doesn't sound right to me.

Which public school did you attend?

[SupremeSpod]

Which public school did you attend? And can you still fit in the uniform?

ftfy

[Old Greg]

What is an interrogative pronoun. Which is an interrogative adjective. You should therefore say, 'Which porsche should I key?'

You should also say, 'What should I key?'

If you said, 'Which should I I key?' then. 'which' is a pronominal usage. The noun is understood: 'which car', 'which one', 'which porsche'.

However, that is all a very 19th century grammarian view that reflects the view that English should behave as the snapshot if Latin that we have in extant literature. In fact English is more flexible and dynamic than that. Usage changes and this change in usage makes it 'correct'. We seem comfortable with a magazine called, 'What Car'. Maybe they didn't fancy a court battle with 'Which'.

[MarillionFan]

How.

[Old Greg]

How.

How.