student asking question

Does the meaning get changed if I replace "whatever" with "what"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

In this context, the meaning would not really change much if you replaced "whatever" with "what". The word "whatever" in a question here has pretty much the same meaning as "what", but "whatever" is a little more formal and empathetic. It is also less common to use in daily conversation, especially in American English. Ex: Whatever happened to my shoes? I can't find them. Ex: What happened to you? Are you OK?

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