Questions · CEFR B1 · Independent
What is it like? — English questions
The standard way to ask for a description. The "like" at the end is not a verb and never moves.
The shape
What + be + subject + like?
Ask somebody to describe a place, a person or a job.
In Hindi
किसी चीज़ का वर्णन माँगने का यही तरीक़ा है। आख़िर का "like" क्रिया नहीं है और कभी हिलता नहीं।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
How is your new office like? | What is your new office like? "Like" at the end goes with "what", never with "how". |
Questions people ask
- What is the what is it like? used for?
- The standard way to ask for a description. The "like" at the end is not a verb and never moves. In practice: ask somebody to describe a place, a person or a job.
- How do you form the what is it like??
- What + be + subject + like?.
- What is the most common mistake with the what is it like??
- Saying “How is your new office like?” instead of “What is your new office like?”. "Like" at the end goes with "what", never with "how".
Where what is it like? fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
What is it like? is a CEFR B1 structure — the independent band — and it belongs to questions. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
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