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Are " How to do?" and "What to do?" grammatically correct?

For example: A - I left your book in the school today. B - How to do ? OR What to do?

hippietrail
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Faye
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  • Are you from Malaysia or Singapore by any chance? I am aware that these are idioms in Straits English. As they tend to be used variously Ihey substitute for various things in standard English, In the example you give, possibly they mean "How did you do that?", and "What can I do about it?". – WS2 Feb 23 '17 at 08:49
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    They are grammatically correct as phrases, but not idiomatic as complete sentences. – Kate Bunting Feb 23 '17 at 09:24
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    Hi, It's my helper from Philippines that kept on saying this phrase in front of my kids. I always thought a better way to say this should be - What should I do? What can I do? – Faye Feb 23 '17 at 09:29
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    "What to do?" is perfectly idiomatic for "What should we do about this situation?" although it's old-fashioned. It doesn't mean "What shall we do today?" I've never heard "How to do?" used similarly though. – Andrew Leach Feb 23 '17 at 09:48
  • Well I wasn't to far away geographically, was I. But I'm interested in @Andrew Leach's comment. Yes, I believe they are both old-fashioned English, which may explain their continued use in some parts of the world today. – WS2 Feb 25 '17 at 16:44
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    'What to do?' is idiomatic. I've never heard of 'How to do?' But you should use "are", not "is" in your question title since you're asking about more than one thing. – Arm the good guys in America Jun 15 '17 at 12:58
  • He told me what to do, but I do not know how to do it. – GEdgar Oct 07 '17 at 11:30
  • Also see https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/101345/is-a-question-beginning-with-how-to-grammatically-correct –  Dec 19 '19 at 10:02

1 Answers1

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What to do? is the correct option here.

The interrogative pronoun is here used as the direct object of the infinitive to do. A listener makes the necessary insertion: What [is there] to do?

Examining the other option, one sees that how is an interrogative adverb, but as the inquirer is asking what there is to do, not how something is to be done, this option does not fit here.

Note that NEITHER OPTION IS A COMPLETE SENTENCE.

Khuldraeseth na'Barya
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