whatever
part of speech
pronoun; determiner; adverb; interjection (informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) Whatever means anything or everything that: "Take whatever you need." tree →
2) Whatever means no matter what: "Whatever happens, stay calm." tree →
3) Whatever (at the end of a list) means or something like that. tree →
4) "Whatever!" said alone means "I don't care", and often sounds rude. tree →
5) Whatever (after "no" or "nothing") adds force: "no reason whatever". tree →
6) Whatever can show surprise or puzzlement, meaning "what on earth", as in "Whatever have you done?" tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and talk, whatever gives freedom of choice or shows calm in uncertain times. In manners lessons, replying "Whatever" to an adult or friend can sound rude and dismissive; it is better to say what you think politely. Phrases: whatever you like, whatever happens, or whatever, whatever it takes, whatever you do.
examples
- + Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- III, 2, prove undoubtedly that he had no knowledge whatever of natural science, and therefore his annotations on the book "Yezirah" are of little or no use at all. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
- Although it was inten- ded as a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah I, its author had no con- ception whatever of what the original Sefer Y'etzirah was. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
- Now whatever thy petition, it shall be granted thee; and whatever thy request further, it shall be done.' (Writings EST.9.12, JPS 1917) tree →
- Then said the king unto her: 'What wilt thou, queen Esther? for whatever thy request, even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be given thee.' (Writings EST.5.3, JPS 1917) tree →
- All this have I seen, even applied my heart thereto, whatever the work that is done under the sun; what time one man had power over another to his hurt. (Writings ECC.8.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- You can choose whatever you want. tree →
- Whatever happens, don't open the door to strangers. tree →
- Eat whatever is on your plate. tree →
- Whatever you do, don't touch the hot pan. tree →
- We can play football, or tag, or whatever. tree →
- "Tidy your room." "Whatever." (rude) tree →
- We will do whatever it takes to win. tree →
- "Eh, sirs! whatever have you done? tree →
note
Written as one word. "What ever" (two words) is used in questions to show surprise: "What ever did you do that for?" Saying "Whatever" alone to someone usually sounds disrespectful.
In the corpora
- Now whatever thy petition, it shall be granted thee; and whatever thy request further, it shall be done.'
- A bot often agrees with whatever you suggest in your question.
- A "new friend" who seems lovely and asks for photos is showing a big warning sign, whoever or whatever is typing.
- Whatever comes, learning the basics yourself, such as writing, still matters, because it trains your own thinking.
- Plants do move, but slowly or with clever tricks, and no plant anywhere can eat a person, whatever cartoons say.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «whatever» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.