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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Which or what    

Which or what



ueslteacher
Ukraine

Which or what
 
Hello, fellow-teachers:)
Could you help? I came across this weird sentence in Enterprise2 test booklet you have to complete with who, which or where:
A toothbrush is something... you clean your teeth with. C �mon? Shouldn �t there be another choice of what, or shouldn �t the sentence be different: A toothbrush is something ... cleans teeth?  
So, am I right or wrong?
Sophia

16 Mar 2011      





pilarmham
Spain

Dear Sophia,
 
A toothbrush is something  which / that  you clean your teeth with.
 
Another way of saying the same is:
 
A toothbrush is something with which you clean your teeth. (that is not possible here)
 
 
A toothbrush is something which / that  cleans teeth is correct too, but notice there is no preposition here!
 
What means "the object(s) that...", for example:
 
A toothbrush is what you need to clean your teeth.
 
Hope this helped a bit!

16 Mar 2011     



Zora
Canada

By the way... "what" is not a relative pronoun. Therefore the word you are looking for is "which".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_pronoun

16 Mar 2011     



Eibe
Portugal

Do the instructions require writing the relative pronoun, or is omission also accepted?

A toothbrush is something you clean your teeth with.

you clean your teeth with
=Contact clause

In defining relative clauses, omission of the relative pronoun is more common whenever it is used as object.

17 Mar 2011