15 Comments
I cannot see the difference between " what have you" and "what do you have"? I think both should be accepted.
875
Someone downvoted you, without explaining why, which is always annoying. I have definitely heard people say, "What have you..." where many of us would say, "What do you have...". (I'm Canadian.) I've even seen forums where people argue that "What have you..." is bad English, which is extreme, in my opinion. I think it is really a question of dialect. I snooped your page and see that you are in Ireland, and it seems to me that saying it in the "What have you..." form seems to be the way it's said there (perhaps not the only way, but definitely common.) I also know someone who is Dutch, but whose English is so good that I would have thought he was English, and he also says, "What have you..." So, the short answer is, I think that is should be accepted, and hope you reported it.
Oh not to worry, life's too short to bother about such things. The person is entitled to their opinion and if they are happy to downvote me without explanation that's also their right. I have lived in so many countries that at this stage I have a kind of pan European/North America dialect, if there is such a thing! Many thanks for your kind words.
I don't think "what have you..?" is bad English at all. It sounds a little strange to American ears (at least in the places I've lived). It's just a little old-fashioned, maybe.
No porque el "have" como lo usas en el primer caso, es para el uso del "perfecto" Por ejemplo: What have you done in this year?
Not necessarily. In English, wh-questions, like many European languages, require a shift of the tense bearing word towards the front of the sentence - which we see in the Greek sentence. In many dialects of English starting in the 18th c. (IIRC), the verb stays and the tense and a dummy "do" go to the front. In the past, English did move the actual verb, and some dialects still allow this.
