whatever

«whatever» in Mova's school dictionary: anything or everything that: "Take whatever you need." — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

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

• 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

• 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.
• The Mole: «O, Ratty! … Whatever are we doing?

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «whatever» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.