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A camera is something […] is used for taking pictures.

What word should be inserted, which or what?

apaderno
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Lana Kova
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    Really, your choice is between that and which. If you Google "that vs which", you'll be able to find several explanations (that/which) can help you out. – J.R. Feb 22 '13 at 13:01
  • Possible duplicate of: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/5/is-there-any-difference-between-which-and-that – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine Feb 22 '13 at 13:09
  • That's the problem! There are 4 possible variants in the test: what, which, whose, whom. There's no "that". So I am to choose between what and which. And I can't make my choice (( – Lana Kova Feb 22 '13 at 13:40
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    Alternatively, omit the "is" and you have "A camera is something used for taking pictures". And after only just seeing that comment about the test, in this case you would choose "which". – Felix Weir Feb 22 '13 at 13:51
  • Furthermore, where I live, people with no discipline in their command of English may use "what", this is poor grammar, in fact plain wrong! – Felix Weir Feb 22 '13 at 13:54

2 Answers2

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In this case, which is a standard choice. What is not, although using what in this manner has a long history in some nonstandard dialects.

As the comments say, that would also work; see the question linked by bytebuster for details, and StoneyB's answer in particular.

Community
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Both answers are actually wrong in this case.

A camera is something what is used for taking pictures.

Is just completely wrong, no question.

A camera is something which is used for taking pictures.

Needs extra punctuation to be grammatically correct:

A camera is something, which is used for taking pictures.

This reveals the true emphasis of this sentence, and shows that it's wrong. 'Which' is used to show a characteristic that applies to all the things, in this case all the "somethings," which is obviously incorrect. (There are somethings that aren't used for taking pictures!)

The correct way to say it would be

A camera is something that is used for taking pictures.

DarkLightA
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    I'm afraid you misunderstand the distinction between relative which and that, and why relative which is sometimes preceded by a comma. Relative which may head both restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses; non-restrictive clauses are set off with commas. Relative that may head only restrictive clauses; restrictive clauses are not set off with commas. – StoneyB on hiatus Mar 05 '13 at 19:08