what, for

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

I have two questions to ask:
No.1
He used what power he had for the benefit of the powerless.
Here 'what' actually means 'whatever'. Is that right?
No.2
_______________ his poor health he had to retire at age 50.
a. For b. Owing to
The key is 'b'. No problem. Since one of the meanings of 'for' is ''because of' could you please explain if 'a' is correct?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.
Jiang

[Anglika]

Dear teachers,

I have two questions to ask:
No.1
He used what power he had for the benefit of the powerless.
Here 'what' actually means 'whatever'. Is that right?
No.2
_______________ his poor health he had to retire at age 50.
a. For b. Owing to
The key is 'b'. No problem. Since one of the meanings of 'for' is ''because of' could you please explain if 'a' is correct?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.
Jiang

#1 Yes

#2 It would be all right if the sentence read "For reasons of poor health..."

[jiang]

Dear Anglika,

Thank you vey much for your explanation.
I have noticed that in "For reasons of poor health..." there isn't the word 'his' . Does it mean ' for reasons of' + noun is a collocation so that we don't need 'his'?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

#1 Yes

#2 It would be all right if the sentence read "For reasons of poor health..."