Google
English-Test.net
Find penpals and make new friends today!
 
person who gives a test
examiner
paragraph
garner
ingredient
TOEIC exam test: Word games online: Free Noun Adjective Game Answer
 
Username
Password
 Remember me? 
Search   FAQ   Memberlist   Profile   Private messages   Register   Log in 

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?


Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
 
ESL/EFL Worksheets and Handouts for Students Printable, photocopiable, clearly structured
Designed for teachers and individual learners
For use in a classroom, at home, on your PC
ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Sentence: After cutting the vegetables and laying them on the table,... | Usage 'the media' as plural
Listening exercises
Message
Author
What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #1 (permalink) Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:23 pm   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

I would like to know if you say "What's the weather like?" or "How's the weather like?". If by chance this is the American and British English versions...

Thank you...
ZukaRashid
New Member


Joined: 12 Apr 2007
Posts: 4

British vs American English #2 (permalink) Thu Apr 12, 2007 14:19 pm   British vs American English
 

.
Not to my ears; the second merely sounds very casual.
.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's
Mister Micawber
Language Coach
Mister Micawber

Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 7438
Location: Yokohama, Japan

Want to learn about the future tenses? Read this story and smileAre you a native speaker of English? Then you should read this!English grammar exercises — improve your English knowledge and vocabulary skillsSign up for FREE and explore English! Click to subscribe to email English course
British vs American English #3 (permalink) Thu Apr 12, 2007 14:55 pm   British vs American English
 

Did you notice the word 'like' in that second sentence, MM?
The second sentence doesn't even sound "casual" to me -- it only sounds wrong.

I'd say either
"What's the weather like?"
- or -
"How's the weather?" (Do not use the word 'like' in this sentence.)
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA

British vs American English #4 (permalink) Thu Apr 12, 2007 16:27 pm   British vs American English
 

And you can say "What's the weather like?" when you wanna know what type of climate is there, right?

And "How's the weather?" when you wanna know if it's rainning or sunny, etc, right?
ZukaRashid
New Member


Joined: 12 Apr 2007
Posts: 4

British vs American English #5 (permalink) Thu Apr 12, 2007 17:12 pm   British vs American English
 

Well, I would not say that "What's the weather like" would be used exclusively to mean "What sort of climate does that area generally have?" (Was that your question?)

If I were on the telephone with friends in another city, for example, I might say:
"What's the weather like (today)?"
-or-
"What's the weather been like (recently)?"

What you might also hear in conversation is a question like this:
"What's the weather doing?" Very Happy
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA

British vs American English #6 (permalink) Thu Apr 12, 2007 22:51 pm   British vs American English
 

.
Yes, I did notice the 'like', Yankee. When I said 'casual', I really meant casual-- I do hear people say it that way sometimes, sometimes jocularly.

I did not even consider 'How's the weather' as part of the question, though-- my bad.
.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's
Mister Micawber
Language Coach
Mister Micawber

Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 7438
Location: Yokohama, Japan

British vs American English #7 (permalink) Fri Apr 13, 2007 23:41 pm   British vs American English
 

ZukaRashid wrote:
And you can say "What's the weather like?" when you wanna know what type of climate is there, right?

And "How's the weather?" when you wanna know if it's rainning or sunny, etc, right?

Zuka, just one piece of advice not related to your question: Don't write wanna. Wanna and gonna are not part of standard English, and if you get into the habit of writing them, you might wind up having trouble in a situation where you need to write correct English.

MM, I have never, ever heard a native English speaker say, "How is the weather like?" even as a joke. If anyone does, I'd suggest it could be one of those cases where native speakers are having fun with the mistakes of foreigners. I know ESL teachers who, among themselves, jokingly call a word "a vocabulary" in imitation of their foreign students. There are all kinds of things like this people do when they're spoofing foreigners' English. In fact, that's the origin of "Long time, no see!"
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

British vs American English #8 (permalink) Fri Apr 13, 2007 23:57 pm   British vs American English
 

Thank you so much for the notice!

My primary queu was due to a question that my english teacher made me. She asked me how to say: Como est? o tempo? (I'm portuguese and this is portuguese, lol). I answered: How's the weather?
She said that it was the biggest mistake I could say in english... I even asked other engliah teacher about this question and the said: How's the weather like? It makes sense! But the teacher keeps saying it's What's the weather like?
My doubt comes from there...
ZukaRashid
New Member


Joined: 12 Apr 2007
Posts: 4

British vs American English #9 (permalink) Fri Apr 13, 2007 23:57 pm   British vs American English
 

sorry for the mistakes!!! Sad
ZukaRashid
New Member


Joined: 12 Apr 2007
Posts: 4

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #10 (permalink) Sat Apr 14, 2007 0:04 am   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

ZukaRashid wrote:
Thank you so much for the notice!

My primary queu was due to a question that my english teacher made me. She asked me how to say: Como est? o tempo? (I'm portuguese and this is portuguese, lol). I answered: How's the weather?
She said that it was the biggest mistake I could say in english... I even asked other engliah teacher about this question and the said: How's the weather like? It makes sense! But the teacher keeps saying it's What's the weather like?
My doubt comes from there...

Your teacher is wrong. Both "How is the weather?" and "What is the weather like?" are perfectly correct, grammatical English, and native speakers ask both of those questions all the time.

There's a problem with weaker English teachers that they are so afraid of having their English affected by their own language that they even reject correct English if an expression sounds too much like one in their native tongue. Sometimes such teachers will tell you that correct things are wrong, just because they think they sound too much like the students' own language.
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #11 (permalink) Sat Apr 14, 2007 12:41 pm   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

Perhaps the teacher was referring to the difference between the questions:

    - How is someone? and

    - What is someone like?

The first refers to someone's health, while the second is to ask about someone's looks and/or character.
Conchita
Language Coach


Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2826
Location: Madrid, Spain

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #12 (permalink) Sat Apr 14, 2007 13:17 pm   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

Conchita, I think the teacher was just rejecting the sentence "How is the weather?" because it is word for word the same as in Portuguese. She probably thought that if the syntax was too close to Portuguese, it couldn't be right. A lot of teachers have weird ideas of this sort.
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #13 (permalink) Sat Apr 14, 2007 13:23 pm   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

Hi Jamie,

I think what Conchita had in mind is this:

How is your new boss? He is fine, thanks.
What is your new boss like? He is quite demanding but that's OK. I think I'll get along just fine.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary
Torsten
Learning Coach
Torsten Daerr

Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 10060
Location: EU

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #14 (permalink) Sat Apr 14, 2007 13:50 pm   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

I understand that, Torsten, but that kind of thinking is not applied to the weather question. "How is the weather?" and, "What is the weather like?" are understood as the same question, and they elicit the same answer. I still think the teacher had an aversion to any sentence that had the same wording as a Portuguese sentence. I've never had a foreign teacher argue with me about "how..." and "what...like", but countless times I've seen them accuse people of making a mistake when a perfectly good English sentence happened to have the same syntax as its equivalent in their own language.

Example: If you want to fail an English exam at a German high school, try writing an absolutely perfect English sentence like, "Never have I seen such a thing," or, "Rarely have we let anyone do that." The German teacher will think it's Germlish and mark the student down.
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? #15 (permalink) Sat Apr 14, 2007 17:10 pm   What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?
 

Torsten wrote:
I think what Conchita had in mind is this:

How is your new boss? He is fine, thanks.
What is your new boss like? He is quite demanding but that's OK. I think I'll get along with him.

Hi Torsten
The question "How is your boss?" is not necessarily asked to find out about health only. It depends on the context. This question is regularly used to elicit exactly the same sort of response/information that "What is your boss like?" does. For example, imagine that the context is that the boss is new:

Q: "How is your (new) boss?"
A: "He is quite demanding, but that's OK. I think we'll get along just fine."
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA

Display posts from previous:   
Sentence: After cutting the vegetables and laying them on the table,... | Usage 'the media' as plural
ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms What's the weather like vs. How's the weather? All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Page 1 of 3
Latest topics on English Forums
Answer: I don't know about it'his' or 'its'?What is the difference between runout, finish and finish?twelve midday or midday?Meaning of "It's neither hot nor cold"Sentence structure: Expand your thoughts vs Expand the thoughtsI wish I had my camera. vs I wish I brought my camera.Meaning of "moving the dial"Why 'Easter'? (the Mardi Gras is the last merry celebration until after...)Sentence: I will continue to see you as long as you will have me.on board vs. a boardIf-clause condition 3 (would have -- had)You're right or right?What are the adjectives?Sports center vs Sport center?How to use the word: 'Seemingly'Sentence: She has nobody she can turn to.Phrase "peace be upon you all"What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?, page 3What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?, page 2What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?

Discover English-test.net
Learn GRE words faster!Shall ever succeedMeaning of "bump up"Complex sentenceExpression: "He lashed me with his whip."GRE test: Vocabulary Words: Examples of Nouns Verbs AdjectivesGRE test: Word games: Free Online Nouns Verbs Adjectives GameDefine urchin, charisma, fracas, anesthetic, potentate, galaxyEnglish vocabulary: Free noun verb worksheetFree ESL Quiz Online: Latin WordsMba in international business: The Hospitality IndustryPinocchio audiobook download

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Subscribe to FREE email English course
First name E-mail