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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

1003.0. "Whatever or whatsoever?" by CALS::THACKERAY () Wed Sep 09 1992 10:01

    Which is best?
    
    Ray
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1003.1COOKIE::EGGERSAnybody can fly with an engine.Wed Sep 09 1992 10:112
    "Whatever" is *better*, unless you are trying to be very emphatic
    and call attention to the word.
1003.2Depends on contextVMSMKT::KENAHKeep on keepin' on...Wed Sep 09 1992 11:020
1003.3They don't *quite* mean the same thing.SMURF::BINDERUt aperies operaWed Sep 09 1992 11:2311
    There is a good article on these words in Fowler.  "Whatsoever" is
    applicable to only one of the three uses of "whatever."  Briefly, the
    three are:
    
    Interrogative:  Whatever will we do?
    
    Antecedent-relative:  ...in what(so)ever component, big or small...
    
    Concessive:  Whatever you do, don't lie.
    
    -dick
1003.4JIT081::DIAMONDbad wiring. That was probably it. Very bad.Wed Sep 09 1992 18:561
    Whatever you like, of course.
1003.5re 1003.3 :-)VNABRW::OSLANSKY_WLAK�L Z'M�N W-�TH L'KH�L-H�FETSThu Sep 10 1992 03:386
    *Whatever* you're commenting, Dick, I'm always deeply impressed by your
    education, inhaling your statements to expand my knowledge of languages
    *whatsoever*.  (But theriously, folkth!)
    
    	S ^C^, VV :-]
    
1003.6COOKIE::EGGERSAnybody can fly with an engine.Thu Sep 10 1992 07:421
    Inhaling is dangerous this year.
1003.7Huh? Heck, whatever.SHALOT::ANDERSONSome fries with that, sir?Thu Sep 10 1992 07:4616
	I agree with .1 -- I see no difference whatsoever, except
	perhaps for emphasis.  I'm not sure where you're coming from
	on this, though, so I don't know what kind of advice you need.
	In day-to-day usage, I would say just ignore it.

	Of all the books I have in my cube, Fowler is the only one that 
	even talks about "whatsoever."  His advice, with its talk about
	"concessive," "antecedent-relative," etc. seems gratuitously
	confusing and complex.  Good for the grammar dweebs, but if
	you actually want to use the language, a little suspect.  (BTW,
	my version also mentions "whatsoever" only twice -- once in an
	example, and once as an equivalent: "whatever (or whatsoever).")

	BTW, my dictionary simply equates "whatever" and "whatsoever."

		-- Cliff	
1003.8CALS::THACKERAYThu Sep 10 1992 13:1910
    You can't simply equate Whatever and whatsoever without being
    grammatically incorrect and sounding silly. For example:
    
    	"Whatsoever you do, don't touch that!"
    	
    	"Whatsoever do I do with this bus bar?"
    
    Dick Binder is right.
    
    Ray