[Grammar] more than what I have right now

[ansonguy]

I have trouble trying to figure out if I need "what" in sentence (1) below.

(1) My boss is going to give me five more hours a week than I have right now.

(2) My boss is going to give me five more hours a week than what I have right now.

Should I keep or leave out "what"? I am really confused. Please help me. Thanks a lot.

 

[bhaisahab]

It's unnecessary. In fact, it's better without 'what'.

 

[Lynxear]

It may be a BE versus AE issue, but I find the sentence #2 flows better with the added "what" .

 

[GoesStation]

This American-English speaker prefers the version without what.

 

[Tdol]

This BrE speaker wouldn't use what.

 

[Lynxear]

Well, ""than what I have right now" is a common phrase where I come from, and I doubt it is a Canadian construction.

Just for giggles I did a Google search for the phrase and found over 400,000 hits.

https://www.google.ca/search?q="tha...1.1.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0.DnPveTaYspg

So I am not alone in feeling that the use of "what" in this phrase is OK. I stand by my earlier comment.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's another difference between variants. I, too, consider "what" wrong here. If I were trying to demonstrate something a "common" (which is sometimes used to mean "poorly educated") person might say, I'd use something like "I've got less clothes than what my sister does". (Not only is the "what" wrong, but it should be "fewer", not "less". "Does" at the end is optional.)