What or Which

Sandy, fascinating q, but for the speedreader it's misstated and confusing, understandable of course if esl

My first reaction: 'What animal paints?' is okay but did you mean, '...that do some activities and the pig that can paint.' ?

I think she was going for:

...that do some activities and the pig (in the passage) can paint.

I think "which animal paints?" would be better assuming the pig is one of numerous animals the reader must differentiate among.

Either option can work though.

There is little difference of meaning between which and what in most cases.


Which is the largest city in the world? OR What is the largest city in the world?

Which / what colour do you like?

Which people / what people have influenced you in your life?



Note that which is preferred when the speaker thinks of a limited number of choices.
We have got white and brown rice. Which will you have? (More natural than
what will you have?’. Here the number of choices is limited.)

Which teacher do you like best? (Limited because you can’t normally have an unlimited number of teachers.)

Which colour do you want – white, black or brown?

Which language is the easiest to learn – English or German?



When the speaker has an unlimited number of choices in the mind, what is preferred.
What language do they speak in Albania?

What is your phone number?


When used with nouns, which and what can be used to talk about both people and things.
What writer do you like best?

Which colour do you want – pink or purple?

Before a noun with a determiner (e.g. the, my, these etc.), we use which of. Note that what is not normally used with of.

Which of your siblings do you like best? (NOT What of your siblings do you like best?)

Which of these books are yours? (NOT What of these books are yours?)

When these words are used without nouns they act like pronouns. Note that in such cases who is used for people and which is used for things.

But note that which can be used in questions about people’s identity. In the same way, what can be used in questions about people’s jobs.

‘Which is your boy?’ ‘The one in the black shirt.’

‘What is your husband?’ ‘He is a teacher.’

Cen I'd sure like to see your prof in Engl. I am [email protected]

I would use which for living stuff n what for nonliving stuff...not that it matters much.

i think it's situational, not really a matter of living and non-living.

Me too. It feels natural to use what when there is a non-limited or very wide set of choices, and which when the choices are limited.

What animals (out of all the animal species) have stripes?
Which shirt (out of two) shall I wear, the red one or the black?