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The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 919):

8.1.2 Exclamative what

What occurs in NPs with a following noun head: there is no exclamative counterpart to the interrogative what of What did they bring with them?

Does that mean the exclamative what can only be used with a following noun head?

If so, what about this example from Oxford Dictionary?

(in exclamations) emphasizing something surprising or remarkable.

‘what some people do for a crust!’

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  • 'Some people' is a NP following 'what'. Could you clarify what you are asking? – Stefan Jan 12 '19 at 09:34
  • @Stefan In the Oxford example, 'some people' does follow 'what', but 'what some people' doesn't constitute an NP. Rather, 'what' is the object of 'do', and 'some people' is the subject. So, I don't think this particular exclamation is what the Cambridge Grammar is describing. – JK2 Jan 12 '19 at 09:51
  • Note that a modern grammar does not describe when something can be used (prescriptive), but rather when it is used (descriptive). – oerkelens Jan 12 '19 at 11:07
  • There's a difference: exclamative "what" is an adjective in NPs, thus in "What a car that was!", "what" is modifying "car". But in "What some people do for a crust!", "what" is not an adjective modifying "people", but a pronoun serving as object of "do". – BillJ Jan 12 '19 at 11:09
  • @BillJ So you agree that 'what' can be used as a pronoun in exclamation. Then, what do you think about the Cambridge Grammar's description of 'what'? According to the book, you can't say What they brought with them! as exclamation. Why this doesn't work when What some people do for a crust! does? – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 02:54
  • You're confusing exclamative clauses and exclamations. – BillJ Jan 13 '19 at 07:58
  • @BillJ Terminology don't matter. I'm sure you understood my question. – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 08:08
  • It does matter. "What some people do for a crust" is an exclamation, but not an exclamative clause. This is the pronoun "what", not exclamative "what", which is an adjective. See what I mean? – BillJ Jan 13 '19 at 08:15
  • @BillJ I'm not following you. Who says the exclamative 'what' has to be an adjective but never a pronoun? – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 08:46
  • H&P do.. It's an adjective serving as modifier in NP structure. It's all explained in CGEL. – BillJ Jan 13 '19 at 10:05
  • @BillJ No, it's not clear whether CGEL says the exclamative 'what' cannot be a pronoun. And there's no syntactic evidence that the 'what' in the Oxford example is not the exclamative what. – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 10:50
  • Take a look at p435 [5], where it talks of the adjectives "such" and exclamative "what". How much clearer can it be? In your example, "what some people" is not a constituent. The pronoun "what" is object of "do", i.e. it figures in clause structure. – BillJ Jan 13 '19 at 11:48
  • @BillJ That doesn't tell you anything about whether the exclamative 'what' must always be an adjective. For example, "such" is an adjective in "such a disaster" but is not an adjective in "Such is life". – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 11:56
  • @BillJ And even if CGEL says so, that cannot be the reason for rejecting that the 'what' in 'what some people do for a crust!' is not the exclamative 'what'. It's entirely possible that CGEL's authers didn't think of this kind of example when they were writing the book. – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 12:02
  • Of course it does! "What" is a modifier, a dependent in the NP "What a disaster". If you don't like what H&P say, get a different textbook! And preferably read it more thoroughly than you have read CGEL! – BillJ Jan 13 '19 at 12:14
  • @BillJ Note that CGEL fails to consider any example similar to Oxford's. And as much as I respect their work, CGEL is no perfect grammar, as I have pointed out several times in this site. – JK2 Jan 13 '19 at 13:07

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