| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
|
1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case
|
| § 73. whatever |
| whatever or what ever. You can use either whatever or what ever in sentences such as Whatever (or What ever) made her say that? Critics have occasionally objected to the one-word form, but many respected writers have used it. The same is true of the forms whoever, whenever, wherever, and however. However, you must use the one-word form when whatever is used as an adjective: Take whatever (not what ever) books you need. | 1 |
| whatever and commas. When a clause beginning with whatever is the subject of a sentence, do not use a comma: Whatever you do is right. Otherwise, a comma is fine: Whatever you do, don’t burn the toast. | 2 |
| never with that. When the phrase preceding a restrictive clause is introduced by whichever or whatever, that should not be used in formal writing. It is regarded as incorrect to write whatever book that you want to look at; instead you should write Whatever book you want to look at will be sent to your office or Whichever book costs less (not that costs less) is fine with us. | 3 |
| More at
that. | 4 |
|
| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
