Subject verb object

statement/ am reading 'Kim'

What-questionWhat are you reading⁹ 'Kim'

What? can also be used in a variety of combinations, such as

13.34.1 'What book/books...?' 'What boy/boys...?'[compare > 13.36.1 ] What + noun asks about things (singular or plural) or substances

What book/books did you buy? What soapdo you use? What + noun can sometimes ask about the identity of people, male or female, singular or plural

What boy/boys/girl/girls/people did you meet at the party? but this is less common, since we generally ask about people with Who(m) ? What ? on its own refers only to things and to an

, Particular question-words and their uses

unlimited and unspecified choice So, for example, the question What would you like? with reference to a menu is not limited - except, of course, by the extent of the menu itself Where the choice is limited and specified, we often prefer Which ? as in eg Which would you prefer beef or lamb?

13.34.2 'What (be, look, etc.) like?'[compare > 6.1]
We use What like? to obtain descriptions of e g

- people or things, appearance or characteristics What's your brother like? (= 'to look at' or 'as a person') What's your car like?(= 'to look at' or 'as a vehicle/to drive')

- the weather, climate, etc What's the weather like today? What's it liketoday?

What...?': names, etc.

- people What's he called?(= What's his name'?) He's called John

- technical terms,etc What's this called?It's called a microchip

- foreign words What's this calledin English? It's called chalk

- What + make What makeis your car? - It's a Volvo