That vs What

Mat

Mat

Mat

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
13,928
Ok, I need some ideas from the OcUK great and good...

Recently I have been trying to help teach a young 5 year old when to use 'that' and when to use 'what'. For instance, he might say

"...the place what we went to"
or
"...the one what I have"

Now so far I have been limited to correcting at the time and he tends to repeat the sentence straight away as a matter of course but I don't think he actually gets it yet (he is only 5 afterall). The only other thing I can suggest to him is that 'what' is used when questioning but even that isn't always the case (e.g. "I understand what you said").
I've also thought of replacing 'what' with 'that which' or even just 'which' in some cases, to see if it fits but I think that is way out of his reach at the moment (if he doesn't get the 'that' v 'what' issue, he won't get 'that' v 'what' v 'which' yet!).

I realise my own grammar isn't perfect but a general 'that' v 'what' rule is good enough for a 5yr old for now.

Has anyone got any suggestions on what I can try or use??
Thanks


In before the 'What?', 'Mustard', 'Facepalm', 'Leave it to the teachers at school', 'Write it on a bat and hit him with it' type replies ;):D
 
Sorry I don't have any advice for you just wanted to say my 4 year old daughter is correcting the rest of the families' use of them and those which is causing me much amusement at the moment.
 
tibbsey said:
Sorted.
Click to expand...

I don't think Mat was confused about the correct use there, he was illustrating what the child would say.

Mat: it's probably not an absolute (although 3 seconds of thought hasn't provided me with exceptions) but maybe you could tell the child that where you are doing something or possessing something you should normally use "that" rather than "what". As you say "what" is normally used as the start of a question.
 
Explain to him that LOLWUT is funnier than LOLTHAT.

Seriously though, until adjectives and nouns make sense, it's kind of tricky to explain the actual rule.
 
relative pronoun for things, either which or that
Unless you're illiterate and uneducated, in which case you say things like, "vat fing what we done brought is stolen innit safe"

that can be used instead of both which and who, so just tell him to use that all the time, problem solved.
 
Last edited:
krooton said:
Seriously though, until adjectives and nouns make sense, it's kind of tricky to explain the actual rule.
Click to expand...

I figure this is probably the case but by the time he gets to that stage he will most likely have developed a habit that he will not be able to break unless it is altered sooner rather than later.
 
Mat said:
I figure this is probably the case but by the time he gets to that stage he will most likely have developed a habit that he will not be able to break unless it is altered sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure most of us would have done the same initially, I can't remember how I learnt the correct way though.
 
Every time he gets it wrong give him a clip round the ear, and some sweets when he gets it right :p

Sit back and watch how fast he learns :o
 
There's no point trying to explain why. Just correct him. Most 5 year olds are smart when it comes to language, they'll pick it up.. eventually.
 
SXTZG.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom