Commonly Confused Words Part III

                                                       which or what

When do we use which and what?

Word	Explanation	Example
which	You have a limited choice of things.	Which lemonade do you like – green or pink?
what	You have an unlimited choice of things.	What lemonade do you like?

With nouns that refer to people, sometimes which is used – even if there is an unlimited choice.

It is often possible to use what or which, like in the following example.

• What is the largest country in the world?
• Which is the largest country in the world?

BUT – if you choose sth from a group of things, use which.

• Here are three apples. Which one would you like?

who's or whose

When do we use who's and whose?

Word	Explanation	Example
who's	contracted form of who is	Who's from Wales? = Who is from Wales?
	contracted form of who has	Who's broken the window? = Who has broken the window?
whose	possessive	Whose textbook is this?

this, that – these, those

When do we use the this and that – these/those?

We use:

• this and that in the singular,
• these and those in the Plural.

Generally speaking, we use this/these to refer to people and things, situations and experiences that are close to the speaker or very close in time. We use that/those to refer to people and things, situations and experiences that are more distant, either in time or physically.

• This is a great game. (We are watching the game.)
• That was a great game. (The game is over.)

The demonstrative determiner and the demonstrative pronoun

demonstrative determiner (together with a noun): This book is new.

demonstrative pronoun (stand on its own): This is a new book.