Improper use of interrogative

疑问代词使用不当

　　什么

　　what

 

　　Example:

　　Wrong：什么你教？

　　Right：你教什么？

　　This is the literal interpretation of “What do you teach?”. In Chinese, if “什么”is the object of an interrogative sentence, it must follow the verbal predicate (“教”).

 

　　Example:

　　Wrong：星期天很多人去什么玩儿？

　　Right：星期天很多人去什么地方（哪儿）玩儿？

　　“什么”alone is used to inquire things. The verb “去”can only take objects of locality. There are two possible ways of correction: put “地方”after “什么”,or use “哪儿”instead of “什么”.

 

　　Example:

　　Wrong：你见有什么口人？

　　Right：你家有什么人？

　　No measure word is allowed between “什么”as modifier and its head word (“人”). Delete “口”.

 

　　Example:

　　Wrong：对老年妇女什么称呼？

　　Right：对老年妇女怎么称呼？

　　“什么”refers to persons or things. It can not premodify verbs (such as “称呼”)as an adverbial adjunct. Here is a question of how to address people. Thus the proper word is “怎么”.

 

　　Example:

　　A：昨天你做什么了？

　　Wrong：B：昨天我做写信、洗衣服、看朋友了。

　　Right：B：昨天我写信、洗衣服、看朋友了。

　　“做什么”is a verb-object phrase which inquires about an activity. In an interrogative sentence containing “做什么”,the question lies in “做什么”as a whole, to which the answer is “写信，洗衣服，看朋友”. If the question is considered to lie in “什么”alone, the answer naturally turns to be “做写信”, which is definitely ungrammatical.