{"id":17712,"date":"2022-03-09T20:09:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T20:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=17712"},"modified":"2022-09-18T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T15:06:12","slug":"what-does-it-mean-what-does-that-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/what-does-it-mean-what-does-that-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;What does it mean&#8221; vs. &#8220;What does that mean&#8221; \u2014 101 Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}<\/style><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the most commonly used pronouns are &ldquo;it&rdquo; and &ldquo;that,&rdquo; and both can be grammatically used in<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the question &ldquo;what does x mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, people seem to get bothered as to when we should say &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; instead of &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; and vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So today, we&rsquo;ll look into the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/general_writing\/writing_style\/style%20\/context.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">context<\/a><\/strong> and meaning behind each of these two exploratory questions to fill the mentioned interesting gap.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&rsquo;s begin with their main difference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>What is the difference between &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; and &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Usually followed by an infinitive phrase like &ldquo;to be x,&rdquo; &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; is generally used as an opening remark for dialogs, especially when referring to word meanings and concepts. &ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo; is mainly used as a response to a previous statement and can often stand alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The difference between and among expressions may be too subtle such as in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/than-vs-then-knowing-the-difference\/\"><b>&ldquo;I have got&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;I have gotten&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is just a matter of the verb tense used.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes, the difference can also be about the part of speech such as in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/sale-sell-difference\/\"><b>&ldquo;sale&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;sell&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that it bothers many natives and non-natives alike.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even spelling misconceptions like in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/amature-vs-amateur-difference\/\"><b>&ldquo;amature&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;amateur&rdquo;<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/than-vs-then-knowing-the-difference\/\"><b>&ldquo;wholistic&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;holistic&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><b>&nbsp; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">may also test our patience every once in a while.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another concern among many cybercitizens these days is the fine line that distinguishes the question &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; from &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having the thirst to understand matters like this is good because it increases our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/milnepublishing.geneseo.edu\/concise-introduction-to-logic\/chapter\/1-developing-a-precise-language\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">linguistic preciseness<\/a><\/strong>, which is crucial in decreasing ambiguities in language use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; and &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; seem to suggest utterly the same grammatical meaning, they actually have a few differences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These differences are a bit too elusive ad fine-drawn that they can only be understood when put in proper contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To put things as simply as possible, &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; is more of a general rhetorical question, while &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is a specific question that is best understood through a dialog.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here&rsquo;s a quick exchange where both questions are asked:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teacher: Class, <\/span><\/i><b><i>what does it mean<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to be stereotypical?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Student 1: I think it means believing that a particular group of people behaves in a certain way or has specific traits.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Student 2: Wow. Really? <\/span><\/i><b><i>What does that mean<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Student 1: Well, it&rsquo;s generalizing people. For example, you&rsquo;re stereotyping when you think all Asians are smart or all Americans are tall.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a nutshell, the question &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; aims to explore or clarify what is said by the speaker or writer, particularly at the surface level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the question &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; aims to investigate further what is not said by the speaker or writer, especially on a deeper level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>The meaning of the expression &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo;<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what does &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; mean?<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when we ask about word meanings and concepts, we usually make use of the question &ldquo;What does x mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That said, &ldquo;x&rdquo; in the statement above can conveniently stand for any word or concept that we would like to know about, understand, or even just ask rhetorically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does &ldquo;avarice&rdquo; mean?<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does &ldquo;vicarious trauma&rdquo; mean?<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In situations where we would have to ask questions like the two examples above, we can simply think of &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; wherein &ldquo;it&rdquo; stands for either &ldquo;avarice&rdquo; or &ldquo;vicarious trauma.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This kind of situation typically occurs in classroom discussions or in language-learning articles like the one you are reading now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having the goal of evoking responses from students while stimulating them to think more, teachers normally open their discussions with what-does-it-mean questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Likewise, language blog writers also make use of this sentence format, particularly in the heading of a section that aims to present word meanings and concepts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In another yet related angle, &ldquo;what does it mean&hellip;&rdquo; is also usually followed by an <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/general_writing\/mechanics\/gerunds_participles_and_infinitives\/infinitives.html#:~:text=An%20Infinitive%20Phrase%20is%20a,We%20intended%20to%20leave%20early.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">infinitive phrase<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like &ldquo;to be x.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This language structure is also generally used as an opening remark, often rhetorically, for deep conversations and presentations.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only limited to that, &ldquo;what does it mean to be x?&rdquo; is also typically used as article or book titles as well as heading and chapter titles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does it mean to be human?<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does it mean to be relieved from stress?<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/safe-and-sound-meaning\/\"><b><i>What does it mean to be &ldquo;safe and sound&rdquo;?<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we think about it, &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; is simply a general rhetorical question used by speakers and writers who want to emphasize the meaning of something.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo; is hence a more superficial question compared to &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, while a person asking with &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; is interested in the surface meaning of something, a person asking with &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is keen on knowing the implication of something.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo; is different from &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; because the latter is also rather used as a more specific, context-based response to a previous statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the next example, you will see that &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; instead of &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; makes little to no sense and that it also evokes a different response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: Andrew said he&rsquo;s broke.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B: What does it mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C: Well, it means he&rsquo;s got no money.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, in the example below, which is in a similar context, you will see how &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; changes the possible response of the first speaker.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: Andrew said he&rsquo;s broke.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B: What does that mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C: Well, it means he needs to live with his parents from now on.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17725\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide.jpg\" alt=\"&ldquo;What does it mean&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;What does that mean&rdquo; Guide\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-512x768.jpg 512w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-640x960.jpg 640w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-720x1080.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17725 eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201200%201800'%3E%3Crect%20width='1200'%20height='1800'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"&ldquo;What does it mean&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;What does that mean&rdquo; Guide\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-512x768.jpg 512w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-640x960.jpg 640w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/What-does-it-mean-vs.-What-does-that-mean-Guide-720x1080.jpg 720w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>The Meaning of &ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo;<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, what about &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; How is this question different from the previously-explained question &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we ask about the implication or deeper meaning of something that has been said or done by another person, we mainly use the question &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, &ldquo;that&rdquo; in &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is context-dependent and cannot be easily explained without using it in a conversation or a text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: I can&rsquo;t believe what just happened. (Sighing and looking glum)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B: Why? What does that mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the example dialog above, the second speaker is asking what the first speaker implies and wants to hear more of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is more like a &ldquo;why?&rdquo; or &ldquo;what happened?&rdquo; question as opposed to &ldquo;what does your statement mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, asking the question &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; suggests asking for the result or consequence of the referred situation or event, such as in the example below:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: Our company just got acquired.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B: What does that mean for you?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we compare &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; with &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; we can understand that the pronoun &ldquo;that&rdquo; also helps in conveying more emphasis than &ldquo;it.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; may also just be the same as &ldquo;what does that imply?&rdquo; or &ldquo;what happens to you now?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can see, &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is particularly used when referring to something very specific to the context of the conversation or situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This also implies that the speaker or writer is expected to explain more or give more details when asked the question &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: Sally just got engaged with Barry.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B: What does that mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: It means I have to let go of her now and move on with my life.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; in a similar context would encourage a different response, which often makes little to no sense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It may also make the speaker feel like &ldquo;literally&rdquo; explaining what has just been said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\">\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: Sally just got engaged with Barry.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B: What does it mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A: It means Barry asked Sally to marry him.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>The meaning of &ldquo;what it mean&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><strong>&ldquo;What it mean&rdquo; is neither a grammatically correct question nor a statement. More precisely, &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; and &ldquo;what it means&rdquo; are the correct forms to use.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo; is a general question regarding word meanings and concepts, whereas &ldquo;what it means&rdquo; is a phrase in the simple present tense used to introduce an explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>What does<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> being mentally strong <\/span><\/i><b><i>mean<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To put things simply, &ldquo;what it means&rdquo; is what you would use in a declarative statement instead of &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, &ldquo;what it means&rdquo; is what you would use to embed or implant the question &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; in a declarative or informative statement form.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our understanding of <\/span><\/i><b><i>what it means<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to be mentally strong has a lot of gaps.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Frequently Asked Questions on &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo; vs &ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Is the question &ldquo;what is that mean&rdquo; correct?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;What is that mean&rdquo; is a grammatically incorrect question that is used instead of the &ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo; When constructing simple present questions in English with wh-question words like &ldquo;what,&rdquo; we have to use &ldquo;does&rdquo; and not &ldquo;is.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Is &ldquo;does that mean&rdquo; the same with &ldquo;is that mean&rdquo;?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Does that mean&rdquo; is not the same as &ldquo;is that mean&rdquo; because the latter is an incorrect grammatical construction for simple present questions. For example, we have to say &ldquo;does that mean you have to live by yourself now?&rdquo; and not &ldquo;is that mean you have to live by yourself now?&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>How can we use &ldquo;what does that mean&rdquo; in a sentence?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To use &ldquo;what does that mean&rdquo; in a sentence, it can either stand by itself or be followed by a prepositional phrase like in &ldquo;what does that mean for you?&rdquo; Most of the time, &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is used as stand-alone follow-up question after a previous statement.<\/span><br>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"Is the question &ldquo;what is that mean&rdquo; correct?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"&ldquo;What is that mean&rdquo; is a grammatically incorrect question that is used instead of the &ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo; When constructing simple present questions in English with wh-question words like &ldquo;what,&rdquo; we have to use &ldquo;does&rdquo; and not &ldquo;is.&rdquo;\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"Is &ldquo;does that mean&rdquo; the same with &ldquo;is that mean&rdquo;?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"&ldquo;Does that mean&rdquo; is not the same as &ldquo;is that mean&rdquo; because the latter is an incorrect grammatical construction for simple present questions. For example, we have to say &ldquo;does that mean you have to live by yourself now?&rdquo; and not &ldquo;is that mean you have to live by yourself now?&rdquo;\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"How can we use &ldquo;what does that mean&rdquo; in a sentence?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"To use &ldquo;what does that mean&rdquo; in a sentence, it can either stand by itself or be followed by a prepositional phrase like in &ldquo;what does that mean for you?&rdquo; Most of the time, &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; is used as stand-alone follow-up question after a previous statement.\"\n      }\n    }\n  ]\n}\n<\/script><br>\n<!--FAQPage Code Generated by https:\/\/saijogeorge.com\/json-ld-schema-generator\/faq\/--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the most commonly used pronouns are &ldquo;it&rdquo; and &ldquo;that,&rdquo; and both can be grammatically used in the question &ldquo;what does x mean?&rdquo; However, people seem to get bothered as to when we should say &ldquo;what does it mean?&rdquo; instead of &ldquo;what does that mean?&rdquo; and vice versa. So today, we&rsquo;ll look into the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"Article","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-grammar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17712"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17730,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17712\/revisions\/17730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}