what are you?

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what are you?

by salahmoaz
(Oman)

What does it mean when someone asks, "what are you ?" Could you give me some examples to show me how to use it in context and how I could respond correctly. Thanks

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what are you?

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Nov 25, 2010

What are you?
by: Ola Zur

You use the word "what" to find out some information about someone/something.

Examples:
What is your name?
What do you like to do?
What is your favorite color?
What are you doing?

You can also use the word "what" to find out the identity of something (not someone). For Example, "what is this?"
For people, you should usually use: "who are you?"

However, in some cases you can hear "what are you".
This is used to ask to which category you belong. For example, let's say you are playing a computer game with a friend, and each of you must choose a category (wizards, giants or robots). So your friends could ask you: "What are you?"
And you could answer: "I am a wizard!"

Ola Zur is the editor of www.really-learn-english.com, an illustrated guide to English.

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