Why is "you cannot buy all what you like" wrong?

Question

I got the following sentences from http://www.engvid.com/english-resource/50-common-grammar-mistakes-in-english-2/

Wrong: You cannot buy all what you like!
Right: You cannot buy all that you like!

Why is the first one wrong? I do see the structure "you can do what you..." many times, e.g. "how to talk about what you want".

Please search the site before asking. Thank you. – RegDwigнt Oct 29 '13 at 10:09 — RegDwigнt, Oct 29 '13 at 10:09

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 29 '13 at 10:04

1

The part "that you like" is a relative clause. "That" is its relative pronoun. "What" is not a relative pronoun, therefore it can't introduce a relative clause.

answered Oct 29 '13 at 10:04

Aspinea

196

Is this sentence 'how to talk about what you want' right – Samuel Oct 29 '13 at 10:07

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 29 '13 at 10:05

0

It's because that you like is a relative clause, and what cannot introduce a relative clause in Standard English. In practice, this sentence would be more likely to occur as You can't buy everything you like.

answered Oct 29 '13 at 10:05

Barrie England

140,205

Don't some regional variants of English allow 'what' to introduce relative clauses? (an example is exactly the first one above) – Mitch Oct 29 '13 at 20:30
They do. That's why I specified Standard English. – Barrie England Oct 29 '13 at 20:56

Why is "you cannot buy all what you like" wrong?

2 Answers2