Talk:how

Etymology

The big question for me is--most Indo-European questions words with *kw- because wh- (pronounced w) in English (what, when, why...), 'how' comes from the same source, why is it not pronounced 'wow' and written 'whow'? Tibetologist 08:32, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

Over the centuries, it went from hwō, to hū, to hwu, hu, hou, and finally how. —Stephen ^(Talk) 08:51, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

How as conjunction

It seems to me that the example used, "I remember how to solve the puzzle", is not correct. This is an adverbial use of the word. A conjunction should join words or phrases of equal rank, not, as here, a sentence with an infinitive. A better example would be "I remember how I (used to) solve puzzles".Caeruleancentaur (talk) 19:13, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

You're right about the example being wrong. I'll change it momentarily.--Kent Dominic (talk) 02:36, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

The old one worked for "how to get there" (in which way to get there); yours does not ("the manner that get there"?). Equinox ◑ 02:51, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Sorry, but you're mistaken. See Oxford for help. "How" works as a conjunction only as however or as: "A reader can shift his attention how he likes." — William Empson

The old one uses "how" and "to get there" adverbially. --Kent Dominic (talk) 03:16, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Btw, it can't even be, "the way in which" - a formulation that becomes a pronoun. --Kent Dominic (talk) 03:22, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

@Equinox:If you're not yet tired of trolling me, you can troll me properly by undoing or emending my recent edit at Yangcheon District. I've since re-thought how to transliterate the relevant phrases from Hangul (which doesn't have uppercase characters) to English. I haven't yet gotten around to fixing my hasty edit. --Kent Dominic (talk) 03:34, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

No trolling at all; I merely saw it in Recent Changes and thought it was not an improvement. Please don't be that guy who kept saying I was "hounding" him because I reverted two of his changes out of about 2000. Equinox ◑ 05:04, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

No harm, no foul. I'm just messing with you with the "trolling" bit. As far as edits go, I don't profess to be perfect but this was one of the times when I was sure I was right. In fact, my certainty stemmed from catching a corresponding error in my own writing. Namely, I had ID'd "how" as a conjunction in this sentence: "You may want to talk about how I became a millionaire." Conjunction? No. Adverb? Strike two. It's a pronoun. Funny, but it changes from a pronoun to an adverb upon substituting "discuss" for "talk about." Words can be temperamental. --Kent Dominic (talk) 06:14, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

...

I'm back to square one thinking the example is a pronoun that stands for "the manner or way that." Merriam-Webster defines one sense of "how" as a conjunction and another as a noun whereas Oxford defines it solely as an adverb. I've ultimately sided with Oxford that how is never a conjunction, but I'm leaving the article as is for someone else to have a go at it. --Kent Dominic (talk) 19:21, 31 July 2020 (UTC)

For what reason or purpose; By what name

For what reason or purpose; why: How is it that he left early?
By what name: How is she called?
https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=how

--Backinstadiums (talk) 13:49, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

as how

as how [Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.]  that; if; whether:
He allowed as how it was none of my business. I don't know as how I ought to interfere.

However for me the meanings used in the examples are not the same, namely that vs. if; otherwise, what meaning of allow is used then? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:11, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/as+how --Backinstadiums (talk) 22:08, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

how far

(Idiom) how far "to what distance, extent, or degree":
I dind't know how far to believe them 

--Backinstadiums (talk) 17:57, 16 November 2020 (UTC)