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

ZukaRashid · Thu Apr 12, 2007 13:23 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...

Mister Micawber · Thu Apr 12, 2007 15:19 pm *British vs American English*

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Not to my ears; the second merely sounds very casual.
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Yankee · Thu Apr 12, 2007 15:55 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.)
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ZukaRashid · Thu Apr 12, 2007 17:27 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?

Yankee · Thu Apr 12, 2007 18:12 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

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Mister Micawber · Thu Apr 12, 2007 23:51 pm *British vs American English*

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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.
.
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Jamie (K) · Sat Apr 14, 2007 0:41 am *British vs American English*

ZukaRashid · Sat Apr 14, 2007 0:57 am *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 · Sat Apr 14, 2007 0:57 am *British vs American English*

sorry for the mistakes!!! Sad

Jamie (K) · Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:04 am *What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?*

Conchita · Sat Apr 14, 2007 13:41 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?

- What is someone like?

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

Jamie (K) · Sat Apr 14, 2007 14:17 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.

Torsten · Sat Apr 14, 2007 14:23 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.
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Jamie (K) · Sat Apr 14, 2007 14:50 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.

Yankee · Sat Apr 14, 2007 18:10 pm *What's the weather like vs. How's the weather?*

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