What's (there) to know?

[Haihao]

Hi,

Could I reword 'What's (there) to know?' as:

What is there worthwhile to know? = There is nothing worth knowing. or there are better rewordings?

Thank you.

haihao

[Alan]

Hi,

'Worthwhile' needs to be followed by 'knowing'

A
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story In touch

[Haihao]

Hi Alan,

Thank you for your indication. This was really a blunder to me. I won't forget it and make the mistake again.

Many thanks again.

Haihao

[Yankee]

Your use of the infinitive should not be seen as a "blunder", Haihao. Unlike 'worth', the word 'worthwhile' can be and often is followed by an infinitive.

The rewording of your sentence depends on whether it's used rhetorically or not -- and you have already given rewordings for both.

As a straightforward question, you might also say:
What is worthwhile, necessary or important to know about this topic/situation?

An alternate rewording of the rhetorical question might be:
This topic or situation is quite clear-cut, so any (further) information about it would be unnecessary and/or irrelevant.

[Haihao]

Hi Amy,

Thank you very much for your instruction. I guess I should spend some more time chewing on what you gave me now to digest them up and I love it.

By the way, just out of curiosity, I'd like to know if the 'there' makes any difference grammatically for the idiom when it comes in as:

'What is there to know', which suggests a 'there is...' structure whereas 'What is to know' a SVO: 'what is (the big deal) to know (about). I know this is not a big deal but just like to make sure. Could you help me with it? Thank you.

Haihao

[Alan]

Hi Haihao,

Perhaps I should have expanded on my first comment:

[Haihao]

Hi Alan,

Many thanks again. Frankly speaking, the deeper and subtler part of the ideas behind the two words was beyond me then but I happily think I have a much clearer picture about them now.

Haihao