what about

Обсуждение вопросов, нюансов и тонкостей грамматики английского языка любого уровня.

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Easy-Breezy English
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#51

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

VictorB пишет: 12 сен 2021, 12:43 Could all the example sentences in this thread, with "what about" at the beginning, be reworded to start with "how about"
I don’t believe so, Victor. Or rather, I guess it’s possible but the meaning would change. “How about” is a suggestion, and it points to one of the choices available. To me, it implies a suggested action even when it's not explicitly stated.

- What do you want to have for dinner?
- How about (getting) pizza?

- I want to take a day off tomorrow.
- Great idea! How about going to the beach?


“What about” is more of a reminder. It could refer to a problem or a solution, or just something forgotten, so it’s more often (although not always) followed by a noun or a noun phrase of some sort.

- We need to defrost the freezer.
- But what about the frozen pizza there? It'll be ruined!

- I want to take a day off tomorrow.
- But what about the X project?

- I’m really low on money. I’m not sure I can even pay the rent this month.
- What about your uncle? Maybe he could help?

- What about John? Should we invite him to the party?
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#52

Сообщение VictorB »

Oh, thank you, dear Easy-Breezy English, thank you very much. From what I have read, yours is the most clear, graspable explanation, which I'm thankfully taking as a rule of thumb for most cases. The examples are vivid and extremely helpful :-)
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#53

Сообщение VictorB »

Easy-Breezy English пишет: 12 сен 2021, 17:18 What about John? Should we invite him to the party?
Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't "how about" (before making a suggestion of inviting John) would work better?
At the same time, "what about" (recalling that John hasn't been invited yet, whereas all the others have been) would work better before "Should we invite him to the party too?"
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#54

Сообщение Easy-Breezy English »

VictorB, sometimes it's a very close call. More context usually helps.

- John seems really down.
- How about inviting him to our party on Friday night?

- Who do you think we should invite?
- How about John? He’s such a great guy.

- Okay, I think we’ve called everyone.
- But what about John? We should absolutely invite him – he always brings a keg of Budweiser!
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