Friday, April 22, 2016

sentence structure - "How is this called" vs "What is this called"?


Which of the following is more suitable as a title for a picture with an arrow toward a part of the body's anatomy?




  1. How is this called?

  2. What is this called?



I need this for a picture of a part of the body, that appears without information about this part. So, I need to ask what it is called in anatomical terminology.



Answer




In American English, it's definitely "What is this called?".


"How is this called" is a common mistake with second language learners. If this phrasing is used, it will signal to any native speakers viewing the diagram that it was created by a learner.


In the Google nGram data, "How is this called" doesn't even appear.


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