It is exam marking season again and I’ve been quite busy. Some seasons I notice a trend to comment on (for example the increasing use of relatable) and this is no exception – what is it with students adding the word what to a sentence where it is not needed?
The two sentences below are illustrative of this phenomenon:
- They’ll try to do all what they can to help their community.
- As what the expert said, “quote!”
I have been seeing such structures so regularly this year that I am starting to wonder if some teaching material has been doing the rounds that promotes this usage. As far as I am concerned, since the what is at best superfluous, for exam purposes, it simply shouldn’t be there.
If any English language learners are reading this and wondering how to fix the problem, the solution is simple – delete the what!